


Of Green Eyes and Skies

by bonesetblues



Series: A Path Intertwined [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Dying Will Flames, Bullying, Crossover, Dabi is Todoroki Touya, F/F, Family Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-10-27 01:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 26,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17757593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonesetblues/pseuds/bonesetblues
Summary: Distance didn't make Nana's heart any fonder and when she finally decides to divorce Iemitsu, leaving Namimori becomes the next step. The cute neighbor is just an added bonus.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Credit for the idea goes to [i. w. p-chan](https://i-w-p-chan.tumblr.com/post/164645778504/a-bnhakhr-crossover), thank you for giving me Ideas. It was only supposed to be one chapter long, but we all know how that goes.
> 
> Side note, dying will flames don't actually exist? I'm making them into quirks and let me tell you, it's a Pain. Also, I'm taking a liberty with Nana's personality, because in the manga/anime, she's just a blank cardboard cutout of a mother, endlessly oblivious to her surroundings and somewhat neglectful to Tsuna. Not happening here, obviously. 
> 
> Last but not least, this is the first time I've posted fic in YEARS. My writing is rusty, I know, but I don't want to receive any constructive crit, okay? Please respect this.

Nana has been called a lot of things in her lifetime, though oblivious always stuck out the most. No one has ever dug deep enough to understand that it was never anything more than a front. Her adaptability to any situation was pinned to that alone, that she was simply too oblivious to understand what was going on. Oh, but she was aware of everything that went on around her. She had to be when she was perfectly aware of what her husband- sorry, ex-husband- was. 

Marrying Iemitsu had been a mistake. His first strike had been when he didn’t show up for the birth of their son, claiming to be “busy”. Yes, marrying Iemitsu was a mistake, but the result wasn’t. She loved Tsunayoshi. He had been a bundle of warmth ever since she first laid eyes on him. Though it was petty to think, she was happy to see that he looked every bit like her, and not at all like his father.

His second strike was being late for dates- being late to send anything for their anniversary, being late to send birthday wishes. Consistently, without fail, he would call two days later with an excuse on his breath. She can’t even be upset, she thinks, because she signed up for this when she very knowingly married a vigilante. 

His last strike was showing up and getting blackout drunk around her son. She wonders if he even realized what this meant for Tsuna. It was the first time he’d be meeting his father and Iemitsu screwed it up entirely. Throwing their son in the air and failing to catch him? Nana about throttled Iemitsu. 

Really, it shouldn’t have surprised her that she slapped divorce papers down on the table in front of him the next day. Any love she had felt for the man had been dampened by the distance. She’s just lucky that he seemed to accept and acknowledge this because he hadn’t said a word of protest as he signed the papers. That’s the only thing she can thank him for. He leaves that day but promises to continue sending money. She keeps his last name if only because of how used to it she is. 

She doesn’t laugh but wants to when she explains to Tsuna why his father won’t be coming around ever again and all he does is let out a sigh in relief. After that, life moves on, but there’s something about Namimori that makes her feel as though they’re both stagnating. 

It’s shortly after the visit that Nana gets the first glimpse of Tsuna’s quirk. Fire sprouts from his forehead and he comes running back over to her. For a brief second, she’s scared he’ll burn her, but nothing happens except a bit of warmth seeping through the fabric of her jeans. It’s certainly an interesting thing to note, but if she thought that that was all there was to his quirk, she was proven wrong consistently by his intuition. There’s nothing more after that, but something tells her that she should keep an eye out for more surprises because she doesn’t think it ends there.

Unfortunately, even though he gets his quirk, the bullying doesn’t stop and no matter how many teachers she badgers, nothing changes. That’s why, when the latest incident brings her son home in a cast, she decides they can’t stay in Namimori anymore. Tsuna seems to accept this, but the furrow in his brow says it all; that he feels guilty they have to leave. It’s both silly and sad, that he thinks he’s responsible for this, that he thinks she even has anything to leave behind in this town. 

The decision to move to Musutafu is an easy one. Nana finds a better school and she gets a life outside of overhearing gossiping from nosy mothers who had things to say about her absent ex-husband. She sorts out things with Iemitsu and the house is sold quickly enough. It gets her more than enough money to find an apartment in the city, close to a school and some shops. It has three bedrooms, and she makes one of them into a study, where she can work. It’s about time she revisited her art.

It’s when she’s carrying a box down the hall that she first meets her neighbor, Midoriya Inko, and her first thought is about what vivid green eyes she has. It’s the first time Nana has ever flustered enough that she nearly drops the box onto her foot. She tries shooing away her blush when she bends down to pick up the things that spilled out of the box. She’s startled when her hand brushes against the soft skin of Inko’s hand that she realizes her neighbor had stopped to help her. 

“Oh! Thank you,” Nana stammers, grabbing Tsuna’s stuffed lion from Inko’s hand. She’s surprised that Tsuna parted with it long enough for it to be packed. Her neighbor smiles timidly.

“It was no problem, really,” she says, voice like tinkling wind chimes. Nana is enthralled. “You must be the new neighbors. My name is Midoriya Inko. We’re right next door to you.”

Nana wonders over the ‘we’ and if she has a spouse, but shakes those thoughts away. She offers a bright smile. “Sawada Nana. It’s lovely to meet you, Midoriya-san.” 

“Please call me Inko, Sawada-san.”

Nana looks at her green eyes, so sincere it almost hurts, and beams back, “Only if you call me Nana, Inko-chan.”

She watches a light dusting of pink blossoms across the other woman’s cheeks and finds herself oddly proud. Nana picks up the last stuffed animal on the ground and puts it into the box, then picks it up. She pauses when she hears the sound of a door opening and sure enough, a head of fluffy brown hair peeks out. She can barely see Tsuna’s round eyes when he catches sight of Inko and backs up into the house. Nana sighs. They really have to work on that; it hurts her heart that her baby’s this way because she couldn’t do more for him before it got this bad.

“Is that your son?” Inko inquires, a hand partly over her mouth, eyes crinkled at the corners. Nana swears if this woman doesn’t stop being so cute, she’s going to fall hard and fast. It’s not the first time she’s ever been enamored by a woman before, but it’s been a long time, and Nana’s flirt game has gotten a little rusty.

“Yes,” she chirps, hefting the box up. She pauses, then levels a slightly regretful expression at Inko, “He’s a little shy, but that’s Tsunayoshi for you.”

“Ah,” Inko hum, hesitating for a few seconds. Nana waits patiently. “Maybe he’d get along with my son?” Nana feels herself perk up at the idea.

“Oh! That’d be wonderful.” Really, it would be. Tsuna’s never had friends before, now that Nana thinks about it. 

“If you’re not too busy later, perhaps you’d like to come over for dinner later? Like a welcome and a playdate?” Inko offers. 

“I’d be a fool to say no!” Nana says, accepting. “We should have all our boxes put away by five.” Probably four, but Nana wants at least one hour to make herself look as though she hasn’t been hauling furniture around all day. It’s been a while since she’s last worn something that made her feel beautiful, rather than casual. She knows better than to get her hopes up for anything more than friendship, too, but she can look good for friends, right?

“How about six?” Inko suggests. “Things should be ready by then, I think.” 

“Sounds wonderful! I’ll see you then, Inko-chan,” Nana says, bowing as much as she’s able to with her hands full. Inko returns the gesture and waves, heading down the stairs. Nana walks over to her apartment, nudging the door open. Tsuna is standing in the entryway, wringing the hem of his shirt.

“Good news, Tsu-kun! I just met one of our neighbors and she invited us over for dinner. Doesn’t that sound fun?” She keeps her voice light and cheery because sometimes her son has to be coaxed into these things. She nudges the door shut with the back of her ankle and then wanders over to his bedroom, where she stacks the box next to his bed. He’ll dig everything out of the box later when he gets ready for bed because he can’t sleep without his stuffed lion. 

When Tsuna doesn’t say anything, she looks over at him. Their eyes meet until Tsuna nods, and pads across the room to latch onto her skirt. She kneels down to hug him better and hopes that Inko’s son will be able to bring her shy boy out of his shell a little. She backs up and puts her hands on his shoulders.

“We’re almost done. Do you want to get started on your room?” She asks, tucking a few stray hairs out of his face. He nods and she lets go, watching him wander into his bedroom. She waits for the sound of clattering, where he’s no doubt making a mess already. She feels a smile curl across her lips. She can’t wait for dinner tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally done! I've been making it a point to write at least 500 words to 1,000 words a day in hopes that I can maintain a steady upload schedule, but the chapter lengths keep growing. I want to write more, but unfortunately I hurt my wrist some time last year and the cold aggravates it. That being said;
> 
> I forgot to mention that both Tsuna and Izuku are 6 currently. This is two years after Izuku is confirmed quirkless. Interestingly enough, though, Izuku would be older since his birthday is July 15th and Tsuna’s is October 14th. Another fun fact I discovered while doing research: I found out that Nana (5'1") is actually shorter than Inko (5'3"). Tsuna (5'2") is shorter than Izuku (5'5¼"). This means Izuku will be the tallest and therefore is tasked with getting things off the top shelf in the future. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you all for your support and kind words. It goes a long way and keeps me wanting to write more!! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Nana almost regrets donating most of her clothes when she finally gets around to unpacking the boxes in her room. It helped make the move faster and she doesn’t think she’d even wear most of it, but now she’s severely limited in her options. The clothes she had gotten rid of were from a time where Iemitsu was around long enough to take her on dates, so they weren’t exactly the kind of casual that would work for a simple dinner, but damn it, Nana wants to look good. Because it’s been a while since she put herself out there last. 

She takes one sweeping look at the closet and then makes her decision. Thankfully with the number of things that they’ve downsized on, unpacking wouldn’t take much more than another day if she put her mind to it (and since she doesn’t have a job yet, what else is there to do?). The dinner is in two hours, which is more than enough time to go out and shop for something nicer. 

“Tsu-kun?” She calls out, grabbing a purse with a strap that crosses over her chest. It won’t stop a particularly determined thief, but it will make it a little harder, she hopes. 

“In here, mama!” 

She finds him in the living room, sitting cross-legged and doodling in his coloring book. He looks up and his eyes search hers in a way that makes him seem older than he is. The first she’d seen it happen, she’d been startled, but now she knows it’s his intuition and that he can’t exactly turn it off. She watches his gaze dart to her purse and then he’s up, leaving his book on the floor, crayon falling next to it.

She doesn’t have to explain anything since he seems to already know, but she still says, “We’re going shopping, Tsu-kun. Isn’t that fun?” 

There’s a conflicted expression on his face that says “there’ll be people there”, but also “it will be fun” because he’s always liked helping her pick things out. It makes her laugh and it has an added bonus of putting a smile on his face. Sometimes the way he brightens up warms her up on the inside. 

She waits patiently for him to find his orange hoodie and then they stop by the door, pulling on their shoes. She holds his hand and locks the door behind them. 

She decides to try a mall first and hopefully it’ll be their only stop. She lets Tsuna’s intuition guide them away from potential danger, his hand tugging hers away from some shops. They pass by many boutiques, but in the end, the one that Tsuna lets her step towards is a quaint little clothing store that has pastel signs hanging on the glass. She likes the style already and shows her approval by ruffling Tsuna’s fluffy hair, which he presses into, eyes closing with a little smile. It’s so cute, she manages to fish her phone out with her free hand, snapping a picture and setting it as her background.

Inside, Nana is already overwhelmed by the choices. She flits from one shelf to another, holding shirts up to herself. Though nothing has stuck out to her as things she wants to wear to the dinner, she does end up with a decent pile of clothes that need to be tried on, so she can replace the stuff she’s gotten rid of. While she’s at it, she has fun watching Tsuna try on scarves and cute sunhats. 

Still, it’s funny, she thinks. The last time she put this much thought into her outfits was when she was worried about being good enough for Iemitsu. That seems so long ago. Eventually, Tsuna starts to pick up on her distress as time ticks by and she settles for something more simple than planned. She can’t go wrong with a pale pink cardigan over a simple shirt and some nice jeans. 

On the way back from the mall, Tsuna steers them around a crowd, and not because he’s uncomfortable with the amount of people gathered there. A man is being restrained, bags of money littered on the ground in front of him, and a few officers are cordoning off the section. Nana arranges herself so that she stands on the side where the criminal is, thus bodily blocking Tsuna from harm, but nothing happens the entire walk outside of the building.

She doesn’t breathe a sigh of relief until they’re back at the apartment. She peels off her shoes and then wanders into her room to change, as well as set aside the things that need to be cleaned. Getting ready doesn’t usually take her very long, but it’s been a while since she put on any sort of makeup and she’s not looking forward to applying her eyeliner. She’s vaguely aware that at some point, Tsuna has come into her room and is now sitting on her bed. 

“Do I look pretty, Tsu-kun?” Nana asks, turning away from the mirror on her, exiting the bathroom. If she has to stare at her eyeliner for even a second longer, she’ll scream, she thinks. Tsuna looks up from where he’s playing with his stuffed lion and examines her. 

“You’re always pretty,” he eventually says. She will never stop being surprised by the sincerity and innocence of children, Tsuna especially. She can’t resist squishing his cheeks, listening to his cute little giggles and protests.

“It’s your turn to get ready, Tsu-kun. Do you want any help?” She asks. She’s not concerned with his fashion taste, though she’s heard horror stories from other parents. She bets her left foot that Tsuna will pick a plain colored shirt and some jeans. They are simple folk, attracted to simple clothes.

Just as she thought, Tsuna shakes his head and scrambles off the bed. While he changes in his room, Nana combs through her short hair and is glad she doesn’t have to do much more than that. She wanders out into the living room and checks the clock, relieved to see that they still had fifteen minutes left. They’ll be a little early, even, which is far better than being late.

Tsuna scrambles out of his room, wearing precisely what Nana thought he would. He slips on his socks and takes a tumble that has her rushing to his side. So used to being clumsy and the pains that come with it, he tears up, but they’re blinked away by the time he stands back up. 

“Are you okay? You need to be more careful, Tsu-kun,” Nana scolds, plucking at some strands of his wild hair. Any attempts at taming it have failed, but sometimes she tries. Cutting it made it worse last year and he’s finally grown it out since there. At least they’ve learned their lesson. She debates the merits of getting him a headband and puts in on the ‘to try’ list. Maybe hair clips? 

Tsuna sheepishly smiles up at her and grabs her hand, signaling that he’s ready to go. They both get back into their shoes and Nana locks the apartment behind them. He slows down the closer they get to Inko’s door, showing his nerves by biting his lips and wringing his shirt hem. For Tsuna, Nana provides him what confidence she can give, insecurities tucked carefully behind her friendly smile. He’s an unusually perceptive kid, but if she fretted as much as he was right now, it wouldn’t help either of them.

Nana lifts a hand and knocks on the door. She hears a bit of muffled chatter behind the door before it opens and Nana is treated to Inko’s green eyes peeking from the opening. She’s once more struck by the depth of the green and would get lost in them if Inko didn’t swing the door open wider, offering them inside with a hurried greeting and a grin that was almost blindingly adorable.

Nana bowed, thanking her, and then stepped inside. She paused, beckoning Tsuna inside, who had stopped right outside. He poked his fingers together, but stepped in, bumping into the back of Nana’s legs. They both take off their shoes and stack them neatly off the side, taking the guest slippers Inko offered. When they walk out of the entryway, Inko crouches down to Tsuna’s level.

“You must be Tsunayoshi-kun,” Inko smiles. There’s an aborted movement of her hand, as though she was going to hold it out for Tsuna to shake, but thought better of it. Instead, she bows her head. “I’m Midoriya Inko, but you can call me Inko. It’s nice to meet you.”

Nana doesn’t have to worry about Tsuna staying quiet, because he stammers out, “Nice to m-meet you, Inko-san.” 

“My son’s washing up, but he’ll be out here in a minute. He was excited to hear about our new neighbors,” Inko says, standing up. “Please, come in! Make yourselves at home.”

Tsuna is reluctant to leave her side and dutifully follows her when Nana steps forward, heading to the kitchen.

“Do you need any help, Inko-chan?” Nana asks, watching Inko out of the corner of her eye as she scuttles around the kitchen. Nana stays out of her way, near the sink, where she begins washing her hands. As an afterthought, Nana lifts Tsuna up so that he can wash his hands too.

“Oh, no, don’t worry!” Inko uses her quirk to pull bowls and silverware towards her, where she begins putting them on the table. “Um, sorry, but…” She looks over at Nana in curiosity. 

“What is it?” Nana inquires, tilting her head to the side. Interestingly enough, Inko’s cheeks turn a pale pink.

“Sorry, this might be insensitive, but is it just you two?” Inko asks, looking away when a glass floats close enough for her to catch and set down. 

“Don’t apologize,” Nana says, shaking her head. “It’s just the two of us. Divorce.” She doesn’t feel like explaining it to a stranger. Maybe when she gets to know Inko a bit more, she’ll find herself opening up, but until then she doesn’t want to burden her with her venting. 

“Me too.” Inko blinks in surprise, but smiles. “I get it. No, um, partners?” 

Nana’s smile turns playful, “Interested?” While Inko stutters, Nana waves it off with a laugh. 

“Kidding,” she sings. “I’m single. No boyfriends, no girlfriends. No partners.” 

“Is that why you moved here?” Inko sets down the last glass.

“Ah,” Nana pauses, eyes flicking over to Tsuna. He’s attempting to hide in his shirt. She puts a hand on his head. “There were many reasons, but for the most part, we wanted a new beginning.”

“I see, I see.” Inko seems to understand that one of the reasons was related to Tsuna, but unsure of how or why. She didn’t pry, however. Nana was relieved.

“Mom!” Calls a voice, the bathroom door opening. “Are they here?” Nana watches as a head of green hair rounds the corner. She nearly laughs when he freezes up at the sight of them standing in the dining room. 

“Ah, Izuku, meet Sawada Nana and her son, Sawada Tsunayoshi.” Inko waves her son over, who comes to stand at her side. 

“This is Midoriya Izuku.” Inko puts a hand on her son’s shoulder, obviously proud of him if the way she puffs up is an indication. It is so endearing, Nana has a hard time keeping her delight to herself. 

“Nice to meet you, Izuku-kun,” Nana says, crouching to his level. She holds out a hand. Izuku timidly shakes it and then retreats. It reminds her of Tsuna. She tries not to make it too obvious that she’s examining him, but- Well, he doesn’t seem like he’d be a danger to Tsuna, so that’s a relief. 

With a nudge to Tsuna’s side, he hesitantly steps forward and introduces himself. Izuku goes from shyly curious to interest when Tsuna asks about the hero shirt he’s wearing. From there on, Nana knows she doesn’t have to worry about either of them. Come to think of it, this is the most she’s ever heard Tsuna talk about heroes. He’s never wanted to be one, though she doesn’t know the reason for it.

They keep up the discussion even after dinner is being served. When Nana takes a bite of the curry, she can’t hold back her compliments.

“I need this recipe, Inko-chan!” Nana gushes, pleased by the spiciness. At her side, Tsuna is equally happy, digging in with a ravenousness that startles her. Thought it's unfair to make the comparison, she can’t help think back to Iemitsu, who would literally beg for her to turn down the heat. When he stuck around, she would end up making it how he liked it. 

“I wasn’t sure if you’d like it,” Inko says, after agreeing to share the recipe. Nana recalls her look of concern when Nana had picked up the spoon. “I tried to make it milder, but I think I might have forgotten.”

“It’s perfect,” Nana replies. “Now that I know this is what you like, I can more comfortably return the favor!”

“You don’t need to return the favor,” Inko denies. “Besides, it was meant more as a welcome than anything.”

“Sure, sure, but I would still like to make you dinner sometime, Inko-chan.” If Nana is a little more sly than she’d normally be, she blames Inko for bringing out this side of her.

“O-oh, then, I’d love that,” Inko says after a few seconds of processing.

“Then it’s settled. How about, hm, this Saturday? Are you free then?” Nana asks. As much as she’d love to have her over tomorrow, it's Tsuna's first day at the new school. Not to mention that she still needed to buy furniture. Can’t have a guest over if there’s no table, right? She’s not going to make them all sit on the floor, after all. 

“That sounds wonderful,” Inko replies, hands pressed together in front of her. “What do you think, Izuku?” She turns to her son, who pulls his spoon out of his mouth to respond.

“I’d love that!” Izuku grins, not unlike sunshine himself, and Nana blinks. Tsuna ducks his head, but she can see the corners of his lips are curled upwards, suggesting he’s smiling, too. These pure boys, Nana thinks.

“Then it’s settled,” Nana says. Looks like Tsuna’s made his first friend. She’s so happy she decided to move.

They make some more idle chit chat before it starts getting late. Ignoring Inko’s protests, Nana helps clean the table, then grabs Inko’s hands, thanking her profusely for having them over. She manages to get Inko’s phone number before they leave and on the way back, she notices Tsuna isn’t so hesitant to be around their new neighbors anymore. Nana looks down at the piece of paper with Inko’s number and holds it close. 

It feels like a step in the right direction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've finally gotten Chapter 3 done! I would have had it out sooner, but that's life. 
> 
> I know I said before, but personalities are definitely going to be different. I mean, I have Issues with how Nana was in KHR canon, but aside from that, I hope I’m showing her as a parent who wants to improve while admitting she’s in the wrong? Also, I refuse to think that Izuku wouldn’t have some influence on Tsuna’s studies and I don’t think either of the boys would let each other suffer from bullying when they have hero complexes like you wouldn’t believe. 
> 
> This story wasn’t even meant to be That Deep and yet, here we are. 
> 
> Regardless, thanks for reading and leaving your support, I appreciate it so much. You can also find me over on [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues.

Monday morning comes too soon, but Nana wakes up way before her alarm goes off and by then, she’s already dressed. Sure, she likes to seem as though she’s a morning person, but that energy she gets? Always comes after she has a cup of tea or two. Today’s important, however, so she gets up earlier than she normally would, as she curses the fact that she has to. She dresses in a new outfit, looking as perky as can be. Yet, she finds herself conflicted.

Tsuna going to school is a good thing. Objectively, she knows this. What concerns her is that it’s late in the year and he hasn’t ever been a “new kid”. Despite how much Nana doesn’t like to admit it, she has not been the best mom. Tsuna’s previous experiences with bullying should have been caught earlier. She should have done a lot more to help him and it eats at her. Even now, she worries about the things she’s doing wrong and the things she hasn’t been doing. She can’t help but wonder if Tsuna will be bullied here, too.

What she has to tell herself is that, if it does happen here, she will put a stop to it. No matter what she has to do, she will make sure it doesn’t happen, and she will catch it the moment she suspects something is wrong. This is a promise she makes to both Tsuna and to herself. The move was in part to start over, but also a chance to be a better mother. It’s with this resolve that she gathers his things into his bag and sets it by the door, then hustles over to make him breakfast.

Something she contemplates as she does is that she saw a little bit of Tsuna poking out of his shell last night, at the dinner. She won’t push him into interacting with other kids his age outside of school if he’s truly uncomfortable with it, but she has to say, he seemed alright with Izuku. She’ll have to ask him when he wakes up about his thoughts, but she hopes that Tsuna’s at least okay hanging out with him. It helps that Izuku had been just as timid and his kindness seems genuine.

Oh, and she forgot to ask last night, but she wonders if Izuku is at the school Tsuna’s transferring to? No matter how he feels towards Izuku right now, it’d certainly help if he had at least one person he’s familiar with there. 

A creek behind her startles her, but she turns her head and notices that it’s only Tsuna. She had been planning on waking him up, but apparently, he was fine getting up all on his own today. The way he’s eyeing breakfast suggests that’s why. She smiled, beckoning him over and when he was close enough, she ruffled his hair. She plucked at the strands, trying to fix it up. Good enough, she thought, watching everything bounce back into place.

She sets the table and pulls out a chair for Tsuna, then seats herself on the other side. He climbs onto the chair, almost slipping off, but catching himself on the table’s edge. 

“Inko-chan and Izuku-kun were rather nice, don’t you think?” Nana prods with a sly grin. 

Tsuna stuffs some toast into his mouth, saving him time to think about her question. She brings her cup up and takes a sip, waiting. She isn’t sure if he’ll be honest or if he’ll say what he thinks she wants to hear. 

“They were okay,” Tsuna says, after swallowing. “They were…”

“Honest?” Nana asks. She sure hopes they were. Tsuna has always been able to catch people when they lied and his character judgment is amazing. It might be weird that she relies on him for things like this, but he thrives off praise and the need to help. It’s a simple thing. 

“Yeah,” Tsuna replies, eyes wide as he takes another bite of his toast. Nana lets out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. It makes her sad that he’s surprised there were no ulterior motives, but… 

Nana shakes those nasty thoughts away. Today’s a special day and Tsuna picks up on bad moods like a moth flocking to a lamp. She’s not ruining it for him, no matter how much he already doesn’t want to go to school. 

“Maybe we can see them again later?” Nana suggests, finishing off her tea. She stands up from the table and takes the empty plates to the sink, where she’ll get to them later. 

“Sure,” Tsuna says, hopping down from the chair. 

When she then tells him to go get ready for school, he trudges to his room with a pout. It begins. It’s for your own good, Tsu-kun, she thinks.

When they do head out the door, Tsuna is dragging his feet, and Nana sighs. There aren’t any tears yet, but she has a few tissues in her purse for when he starts crying. She knows her son, okay? She offers her hand and he grips it with a strength a six-year-old shouldn’t have. They head towards the stairs and stop only when they hear a voice call out to them.

“Nana-san!” 

Nana turns around and spots Inko. She’s hustling over to them, Izuku trailing beside her. It’s way too early for that cute smile, Nana thinks, but grins and waves at her.

“Good morning, Inko-chan, Izuku-kun,” Nana chirps at them. She gently bumps Tsuna with her hip, nudging him into greeting them as well.

“Morning.” Inko approaches and stops in front of them. “Are you walking Tsuna to school? Do you mind if I ask where?”

When Nana answers, Inko clasps her hands together with a gasp.

“That’s where Izu-kun’s attending,” Inko says, eyes glittering in poorly concealed excitement. “Can we walk with you?”

Tsuna’s death grip on her hand eases somewhat. Nana looks down at him, discovering that he’s shyly waving at Izuku, who is smiling from his mother’s side. It’s so cute, she wishes she could take a picture of this moment. Instead, she turns her gaze back to Inko.

“We’d be delighted! It’d help to have someone who knows where they’re going helping us.” Nana’s memorized the maps leading to Tsuna’s school and has a GPS on her phone, but this is much better.

The walk is peaceful. Nana has a pleasant conversation with Inko about what she does for work (“Ah, you work from home? Me too!”) and then somehow quirks come up. 

“Minor object attraction?” Nana asks, tilting her head to the side. “Oh! That’s how you were pulling those dishes to yourself during dinner, right? How useful!”

Inko flushes at the compliments, trying to deny them. Nana tsks.

“No, really! That’s amazing,” Nana chirps, swinging Tsuna’s hand between them. Tsuna’s grip has finally relaxed, to her relief, and he seems to be having his own quiet discussion with Izuku. 

“What about you, Nana-san?” Inko asks. Izuku’s attention snaps up. Nana recalls Inko saying something about his fascination with quirks.

“Ah, well, I don’t have one,” Nana replies. She used to be bummed about it, of course, but she’s content about who she is now.

Izuku’s eyes go wide. 

“Quirkless?” He asks. Inko is just as surprised. Normally Nana would be passive aggressive by now, but neither of them seems to be taking it as a negative thing. 

“That’s right.” Nana nods. “I never developed one.”

“I’m...Me too,” Izuku says, still shocked. Nana keeps her expression friendly, but she’s a little surprised, too.

“Wow. Small world, huh?” Nana smiles down at him, watching his eyebrows furrow. He looks over at Tsuna.

“What about-?” He cuts himself off. 

“I have a quirk,” Tsuna says, just above a whisper. Anything that reminds him of his dad puts him in a mood, Nana knows. She squeezes his hand, offering comfort.

“Maybe you two can talk more about this later?” Nana suggests, spotting the school in the distance. 

Once they’re near enough, Nana can sense that Tsuna’s growing anxious. He slows down, but before he can say anything, Izuku’s grabbed Tsuna’s free hand.

“Come on, I can walk you to class. Which one is it?” 

Instead of tensing like she expects him to, Tsuna relaxes and lets go of Nana. He does look back at her, in one last attempt for her to cave and take him home, but she does no such thing. She plants a kiss on his forehead and bids him a good day.

She watches him as he’s tugged towards the school by Izuku, who is excited to have heard they shared the same class. She waves until he’s out of sight and is glad he’s not at that age where he’d be embarrassed by it just yet.

“They grow so fast, don’t they?” Inko stands next to Nana, hands on her hips. 

“They sure do,” Nana replies, wringing the hem of her shirt. It’s here that she realizes she might have passed the habit onto Tsuna. She doesn’t know how, because she’s tried to make sure she never worried in front of him, but who knows? That boy has the observation skills of an intensely focused owl sometimes.

“Are you okay?” Inko asks, bringing Nana out of her thoughts. 

“It’s just that it’s so late… and he didn’t have the best time in his other school, so…” In a perfect world, this wouldn’t be a concern. 

“Oh, I see.” Inko frowns. “I worry about Izuku for the same reason.”

“He’s being bullied?” Nana is struck by how concerned she is for a boy she barely knows. Then again, she has always loved children and it was more personal after finding out he’s quirkless like her.

“I think you can take a guess as to why. I thought it stopped, but I’m not naive. He could be hiding it. He won’t tell me anything, though,” Inko confesses, starting to walk back to the apartments. Nana followed. 

“Tsu-kun’s like that, too,” Nana admits. “He doesn’t fight back, either. Have you gone to the teachers with your concerns?” 

“Oh, yes, of course.” Inko turns her head, eyes meeting Nana’s as they walk. “They tell me that the teachers will handle it, but it keeps happening. I’m at a loss.”

It has to be terrible luck that brought her to pick a school with the same problem Nana had been hoping to avoid. 

“Tell you what,” Nana says. “Next time you catch it happening, knock on my door, and we’ll both storm the principal’s office. Two angry mothers are better than one, don’t you think?” 

Inko laughs and it’s one of the most beautiful things Nana’s ever heard. 

“You have yourself a deal, Nana-san.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at it with the longer-than-planned updates. 
> 
> Hopefully, Mitsuki isn’t too ooc? I wasn’t entirely sure how to handle the situation, but here it is. 
> 
> Oh and also, I love that Nana’s an artist, but I wonder if she wouldn’t have been better as a baker or something? Too late to go back now in my opinion, but who says she can’t be both? Maybe?
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support!

Nana makes it back to the apartment after parting ways with Inko and she spends the rest of her day painting. It doesn’t take her mind off the fact that, despite her best efforts, Tsuna’s new school has a bully problem reminiscent of what she had to deal with back in Namimori. It feels like she took a step forward only to find out that she got nowhere. 

She knows it’s hasty of her, but she’s already preparing for the worst. Every time she blinks, she thinks back to Tsuna in an arm cast, and the thought of Izuku experiencing the same thing makes her heart ache. As she has these thoughts, they reflect on her painting, turning previously sunny landscapes into something much more stormy. 

Maybe nothing would happen! But, well- Not to be pessimistic or down on her child, but Tsuna seemed to have some sort of magnet on him that said: “Come bully me!” She assumes it has something to do with his timid and clumsy nature or even the way he sometimes falls behind when he doesn’t understand the classwork (though, if you ask her, that’s the teacher’s fault for ignoring his problems, instead choosing to mock him for not understanding). It’s so frustrating when he’s a kind and bright boy, who could use a friend or two. 

With fifteen minutes to spare before she has to go pick Tsuna up, she finishes her painting and scrambles into the bathroom to wash the paint off her hands. Her pants are a lost cause and she doesn’t have the time to change them. She snags her purse and locks the door behind her, then walks over to Inko’s. She hopes the other woman hasn’t left already, but as she’s lifting her hand to knock, Inko is stepping outside.

They stare at each other in surprise, before Nana laughs to herself. 

“Just in time,” Nana says, watching Inko’s gaze wander down to the paint splatters all over her clothes. 

“It seems so! Shall we walk together?” Inko asks, stepping over to her side. Nana nods, trailing towards the stairs. 

“Of course! It’s much more fun this way, wouldn’t you say?” Even so, Nana has ulterior motives. One of them is to spend more time with Inko. She thinks they’re off to a great friendship. The other is that, if Tsuna comes to her hurt or crying, Inko will conveniently be there when she storms the school for the principal or even the bully’s parent for a direct confrontation. Nana used to be shy about these matters, but she made a promise to Tsunayoshi and herself. She will not be lenient about other people’s behavior towards her son. 

Inko seems to pick up on Nana’s weird behavior, but she maintains some small talk. On the way, Inko talks about Izuku’s fascination with All Might. Admittedly, Nana only knows of the top heroes, but this is because it’s practically impossible not to know. Other than that? Her world has been Tsunayoshi, cleaning the house, cooking meals, and Iemitsu (read: longing for Iemitsu to come home). Occasionally talking to other housewives, but that was infrequent. It’ll be different now, though, she thinks. More time for herself, doing things she likes and reading up on things that are happening around her.

Lost in her thoughts, though she keeps up with the small talk, they approach the school quickly. Nana searches the crowd of children pouring out of the building. Her eyes catch on the green of Izuku’s hair, where she spots her own son at his side. Nothing immediately strikes her as odd until they get closer and she spots the telltale reds of Tsuna’s eyes. Except, his lips are a thin line, and his hands are clenched on the straps of his backpack. So it was an angry cry, she observes.

She moves her gaze to Izuku, who has a bruise on his cheek. He seems meeker than usual. It reminds her of a drooping sunflower. She purses her lips and puts her hands on her hips. Tsuna hunches into his shirt, but she hopes he doesn’t think she’s mad at him. 

“What happened?” Nana prods. She doesn’t try her interrogation tactics on Izuku when she doesn’t know if they’ll work. It’s a charm against Tsuna, though, who shuffles his feet but opens his mouth.

“They were calling him names,” Tsuna says, peeking at Izuku. What he doesn’t include is that he likely stepped in to help, making himself a future target as well. She’s not letting that happen, though. She’s nipping this in the bud.

“Who?” Nana keeps up her stern stare until Tsuna tilts his head back and looks over at a blond kid across the courtyard. 

“That’s Kacchan,” Inko breathes, eyebrows furrowed. “That boy and his friends, right?”

Izuku’s head drops against his chest, but then he nods sharply.

“That’s his mother, right?” Nana asks, looking at the woman next to him. She doesn’t wait for them to start walking, because Nana is storming across the courtyard. She’s not scary, she knows, but no one likes being a part of a scene and if she has to make one get her point across, then she will!

She can practically feel Tsuna’s cringing, but he keeps up with her, and Inko calls after her. She knows the other woman is following, though, because there are two more sets of footsteps behind her. 

She stops abruptly, in front of the two blondes. It’s here that she examines their features, noting they look like copies of each other. It’d be charming if she weren’t so angry. 

“Sorry to bother you,” though she’s actually not, “but that’s your son?” Nana looks down at the boy, who is glaring up at her. Yeah. That’s a brat, she thinks. Probably misguided.

“Yeah, he’s mine. What of it?” She’s defensive already, arms across her chest. Her gaze flits over to Inko’s and it clicks for her. “Let me guess-”

“How many times has a parent complained about your son’s bullying?” Nana interrupts. “Has he ever gotten in serious trouble for it or do you laugh it off and excuse it with ‘boys will be boys’? Because I’m telling you right now that I won’t stand for it and I don’t care who you are, if I have to take this to some other authority, I will.” 

“Don’t you think that’s none of your business?” The woman, Mitsuki if Inko’s ignored stammer is her name, asks.

“If it involves my son, then it is my business,” Nana says. “Is it really too hard for you to get your son to stop?” Maybe issuing a challenge will work? It doesn’t.

“Excuse you? Who are you to tell me how to raise my kid?” Mitsuki scowls, though it doesn’t come off as aggressive to her. Perhaps Mitsuki’s well aware of this behavior issue and isn’t sure how to handle it? Before Nana can say anything, though, Inko speaks up.

“Mistuki-san, we’re not the only ones who have approached the principal with this,” Inko says, hands clenched. “You know how serious this is. You can’t ignore it anymore. I’m tired of watching my son come home with these terrible bruises and injuries. They aren’t jokes. They never were. You expect them to grow out of it on their own. It’s going to get worse. What do you think will happen if we approach the principal one more time? It’s not going to be a warning next time.”

Mitsuki’s jaw grinds, but she seems to weigh their words with consideration. She looks down at her kid, then back at Nana. “Name?” 

Nana tilts her head to the side but introduces herself.

“Then, Sawada-san, since you seem to think you can tell me what to do, what do you suppose I can do to put a stop to this?” It sounds condescending- or, well, it absolutely is- but there’s a real question in there. It brings her back to the very thought that Mitsuki’s aware of this problem, but doesn’t know how to tackle it.

“Talk to him,” Nana suggests. “Ask him why and listen to him. If it’s an issue stemming from anger or pride, seek a therapist. I’m not… I don’t have all the information, nor do I have all the answers, so I can’t say for sure, but I think it might help.”

As expected, Mitsuki’s face scrunches up at the mention of a therapist, as Nana thought it would. However, she doesn’t refute this. Instead, she nods stiffly and says, “Right, well, are we done here?” Though phrased as a question, she’s not really wanting an answer. Nana nods anyway and lets the two walk away.

“Nana-san, that was amazing,” Inko clasps her hands, but Nana’s knows she’s still worried. She feels the same way.

“Ah, no, it’s…” Feeling a bit flustered, Nana changes the subject. “So they’ve been warned before?” 

“Well, I remember Mitsuki-san complaining about it before. Apparently, he wasn’t alone, though, and his friends also got in trouble. That was a while back. It seems like I guessed right though.” Inko smiles.

“So clever!” Nana chirps then she turns to the boys. The smile falls off her face. “You two need to speak up if this happens again. A school is a place for learning, where you should feel safe. No more ‘I can’t bother my mom about this’, understand?”

Tsuna nods, still tense from the confrontation. Nana’s sure that if anyone poked his shoulder, he’d fall right over like a statue. She reads him well enough to know that he’ll still try to keep his burdens to himself and if Izuku is anything like her son, he’ll do the same. Well, that just means she’ll have to watch him closer.

Inko nudges her side and, very quietly, whispers, “Thank you.”

Nana smiles and nods her head, then turns to the boys.

“After that, I think we deserve some ice cream. I think there’s a place on the way back,” Nana says.

They walk home in peace that is only disrupted by the ice cream melting all over their fingers.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would have had this chapter out a lot sooner, except we had several snow storms hit our town (aka a record-setting amount of snow) and, uh, if you’re familiar with snow, you’d know it’s super heavy when it piles up. I’m still recovering from the lingering soreness of shoveling the driveway and sidewalk. 
> 
> I wasn’t sure how to feel about this chapter, because I didn’t want to handwave the bullying thing away, so here’s a bit of aftermath, and a reason for Katsuki to actually back off. Bonus: some discussion about how Tsuna’s complicated quirk works.
> 
> If you ever want to discuss something, you can shoot me a message on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support!

On Wednesday, Nana has to go to the school earlier than usual, because a confrontation between Tsuna and a classmate resulted in quirk usage. Tsuna has always been careful not to use his flames after an incident, so the fact he felt he had to use it has Nana’s hackles up. She doesn’t even have to guess who might have provoked him, too, because she had been expecting the backlash from her confrontation. Sure enough, Mitsuki arrives the second Nana is pulling open the school doors.

They give each other wary looks, but Nana knows better than to fly off the handle just yet. She knows Tsuna didn’t start it. He’s not that kind of boy. However, in the event that she’s wrong, she’d hate to appear as though she has an unfair bias (read: she absolutely one hundred percent does, but that’s her boy, okay?). Plus, Nana hates appearing as a fool, even if she’s rather good at the airheaded obliviousness. It has its advantages.

When Nana and Mitsuki step into the office, Nana’s gaze slides from Tsuna to the principal. Her son appears fine initially, but his bangs are hiding his eyes and his hands are clenched. She can see they’re red, despite his grip doing its best to turn his skin white. Katsuki is scowling as he sits on a chair next to him, arms folded across his chest. The principal has a look on his face that says “I haven’t slept in three days and this is my last straw.”

“Good, you’re here,” the principal, Maeda, begins. “Bakugou-san, Sawada-san, I’m sorry to call you both in on such short notice, but there was an incident at lunch. From my understanding, the altercation was started by young Katsuki here and Tsunayoshi activated his quirk in self-defense. Can you understand why this might be a problem?”

They’re both in trouble, Nana notes. She knows why this is. Logically, Tsuna could have really hurt Katsuki, since Tsuna doesn’t use his flames nearly enough to have any semblance of control over them. This doesn’t stop her from being upset about it.

“Yes,” Nana says, putting a hand on Tsuna’s hair. All the conditioner she’s put in it has made it soft, but it hasn’t prevented it from spiking out everywhere. 

“We were working on fixing this,” Mitsuki speaks up. “I know we’re cutting it close, but-”

“Three days,” Maeda interrupts. “Three days suspension for Katsuki. And Bakugou-san? Do something about this. It’s your final and only warning. Sawada-san, I’m giving Tsunayoshi a warning and detention tomorrow after school. You can pick him up at four thirty. Today, however, I’d appreciate it if you could take both boys home. Their homework is in their bags.”

Nana wants to comb a hand through her own hair, frustrated at the situation, but instead, she forces a smile and nods. Maeda dismisses them both and the four of them walk out of the room, tense.

“Sawada,” Mitsuki begins, but Nana shakes her head. 

“This is a complicated situation and I didn’t expect for it to be fixed overnight.” She looks back at the woman and takes in the eyebags. Why is everyone around her so tired?

Mitsuki pauses, then pushes Katsuki’s head down with her as she bows. “We’re very sorry!” Nana can hear Katsuki growl, but he doesn’t try and wiggle away. It’s a start. 

“Thank you.” Nana nods at them and then prods Tsuna into walking again. Mitsuki’s kind enough to let them get a headstart. It eases some of the tension in Nana’s shoulders. Now she has to figure out what she can do to make Tsuna feel better.

In the end, he doesn’t say anything until they get into the apartment, where he follows her into the bathroom so she can apply burn cream to his hands. An unfortunate side effect of using his quirk without a conduit- or at least, she thinks that’s what it is? She’s never learned much about quirks and their needs. She’s really paying for it now, huh? She shakes her head, then presses a kiss to Tsuna’s palms once she’s wrapped them. It doesn’t ease the guilt, but he does relax a little.

“I didn’t want to use it,” Tsuna admits. “He was scaring Midoriya-kun… and me.” 

“Was he becoming physical?” Nana asks, still crouching and holding his hands. 

“He pushed me, but-!” Tsuna squeezes her fingers. “I didn’t want to hurt him. I just wanted to protect my friend and then-!”

“Tsu-kun.” She shushes him. “I know. I’m not mad, but you should get a teacher when this happens, okay? You can’t use your quirk against your classmates.”

“Are… Are you going to call… dad?” Tsuna practically cringes, shoulders raises as he hunches into them. 

This gives her something to think about, so she doesn’t answer him right away. He’s not going to like it if she says yes, but out of the two of them, he’s the one who knows more about the quirk Tsuna inherited. This is something Tsuna needs to learn and he can’t keep shying away from it. 

“I don’t want you to hesitate when you use your quirk,” Nana speaks after a moment’s pause. “I know you’re afraid because you don’t want to hurt anyone, but if you don’t learn how to use or control it, you might end up doing that by accident anyway. I won’t call him today, but I want you to think about it.”

She’s not sure if he’ll even answer the phone, but this important. If she has to leave a thousand voicemails, she will. 

Tsuna considers her words with a graveness that a child shouldn’t be capable of. Sometimes she wonders about that. She threads her fingers through his hair and comforts him. Afterward, she starts making food, when she remembers that she won’t be walking to school with Inko today or tomorrow.

It’s a good thing Nana had the foresight to snag Inko’s number. Approaching the weekend, Nana also becomes aware of the fact that she never established a time for dinner on Saturday. She opens her messages, smiling when she looks over old conversations. They’ve really hit it off. She sends a text, asking Inko when she’s free on Saturday and then tucks her phone away, after alerting her to what had happened. 

Inko is offended on their behalf, but she too understands the consequences of children using their quirks. 

“ _But it’s so annoying, because I know there are children there using their quirks in school anyway_ ,” Inko’s text reads. 

“ _It’s because it was against another student, but I’m sure things have slipped through the cracks regardless. I can’t fight them on this when I have no proof_ ,” Nana sends back.

At least there’s one other person on her side, Nana thinks. It’ll be nice to have support when she inevitably makes contact with Iemitsu again and he tries to help Tsuna with his quirk. 

“ _I’m free the whole day Saturday, by the way_ ,” Inko texts. 

“ _You can come over early, if you’d like_ ,” Nana replies. “ _I can put a movie on for the boys._ ”

__

__

When Inko sends in an affirmation, Nana sets a reminder on her calendar and starts researching recipes. It’s the least she can do to get her mind off things. 

X

Saturday comes by slowly, but for Nana, it couldn’t have come fast enough. She’s already gone shopping for ingredients and it only occurs to her that she’s making too much food after she finishes up the fifth dish on her list. She has a range of foods that go from mild to ‘too hot for any mortal to stand’ and she still hasn’t started on dessert. She knows it’s nervousness coming into play, but the instinct to make sure there are things Inko and Izuku can choose from is hard to ignore.

At least she’s getting this nervousness out before they get here. She finally decides to put the cooking to rest when she’s done with the dessert and then it’s just a waiting game. She’d thought Inko and Izuku would come sometime before she finished, but, well, Nana had started early. Probably too early.

With nothing better to do, she fusses over the flowers on the table. Sad to say that she has the opposite of a green thumb, so she had picked up some lovely fake daffodils. The good thing about these is that they’ll never wilt and she won’t find herself sneezing up a storm over pollen. 

Just as she’s adjusting the vase to sit perfectly in the middle of the time, the door is knocked upon, and she rushes across the living room to invite their guests in. She hopes Inko didn’t notice her hesitation, but she wasn’t expecting Inko to have dressed up the way she did. She was stunning, wearing a white sweater and a black skirt. It suited her, it really did. Nana could barely take her eyes off Inko.

She steps to the side and lets them both into the apartment, shutting the door behind them. She nudges the slippers forward and then leads them into the living room. Tsuna is sitting on the couch, homework in his hands. Nana offered to help him with it earlier, but as stubborn as he was, Tsuna had declined and was still steadily working away at it. He looked up when Izuku entered the room, beckoning his friend over. Izuku scrambled over with a bright smile. Nana cooed quietly to herself, but by Inko’s amused look, she must have heard it.

Nana waves at her and walks towards the kitchen, Inko following along.

“I was just about to start setting the table,” Nana says. “And, before you ask, I won’t allow my guests to help!” Nana starts pulling dishes out of a cabinet, delicately taking the plates to the table. Still, while her back is turned, she sees silverware floating its way over to sit on the napkins she set next to the plates and bowls. She can’t find it in herself to scold Inko.

“Sorry, we came a bit later than planned.” Inko’s hand is behind her back, but Nana sees the motions of her hand wiggling, pulling objects towards the table. Clever. Nana adores her so much.

“Don’t worry!” Nana waves a hand, bringing over the yakitori. Sitting next to it is udon, onigiri in fun shapes, spicy ramen, and gyoza. Many options, indeed. 

“I couldn’t decide on what to wear and then Izuku got caught up in his hero analyzing. He loves quirks,” Inko explains. “I couldn’t bring myself to bother him, so I ended up letting him finish what he was doing.”

“Oh, you look wonderful, Inko-chan.” Nana watches with glittering eyes as Inko flushes. “Izuku-kun likes analyzing quirks, huh? That’s very useful for heroics.” Just as she says that she spots Izuku’s head pop over the couch in the living room, eyes wide and trained on her.

“Heroics?” Inko asks, hesitant. She’s likely caught onto Izuku’s movement too. Nana feels something like a realization.

“Certainly. Heroes come in many shapes, you know? Not all heroes are on the field, either!” Nana chirps. “But it’s really up to you to decide what you want to do with the skills you have. Plus, if you’re young enough, you can pick up on more to help you later! Why I think there are self-defense classes available to all ages around here if you’re interested.”

While not being overly obvious about observing Izuku, she does notice that he’s looking more contemplative by the second. She’ll have to come back to this later, but she’s at least planted an idea in his head (whether it’s a good idea or not remains to be seen). She understands the feeling of being quirkless and being told you can’t do certain things, but when she was younger, she was fueled by spite. Nana’s lips twitch. She was never physically strong, nor scary, but determination is a powerful thing.

She doesn’t say that she only knows about the self-defense classes around here because she’d looked into it for herself and Tsuna. Maybe he wouldn’t be so prone to be pushed around if he knew how to defend himself. For her, it was more a matter of not wanting to be caught unaware by a villain, considering they now live in a big city where that’s a very real possibility.

Inko’s silence is a bit concerning, but after some time, she sees her mouth the words ‘thank you’. Nana lets herself relax, glad she hasn’t said something wrong or overstepped her boundaries. 

“That reminds me, I don’t think I asked what Tsuna’s quirk is?” Inko asks. Not entirely a topic changer, but it does bring attention to how little Nana’s actually told her. 

“Oh, that’s right. Um,” Nana pauses, debating on what she wants to say. Normally she’d just say ‘fire manipulation’ and leave it at that because it’s much less complicated than the real explanation, but she genuinely likes Inko and Izuku already. It’s just that, not only is the quirk itself complex, it’s closely linked to Iemitsu. In the end, she admits, “Tsuna’s inherited a rare stockpile quirk from his father’s side of the family.”

If she didn’t have Izuku’s full attention before, she does now.

“His great, great, great, grandfather called it Sky because ‘the sky encompasses all’. The only problem I have is that Tsuna’s reluctant to use any of them, aside from his intuition and so I’m not sure how many he’s inherited, let alone if he has his father’s quirk, too.”

What Nana doesn’t say is that Iemitsu’s quirk was extremely flashy (as turning into a giant fiery lion is anything but subtle) and she’s not sure if Tsuna now has the ability to do that, too, or if there’s a chance of it having mutated.

Not to mention that there’s only one renowned person who can turn into a giant fiery lion and he’s a wanted vigilante. Nana has the oblivious act down to a science, but there’s still the chance of someone taking notice and asking her about her ex-husband. Maybe one day Nana will tell Inko, but not today. Not when she doesn’t know if Inko will handle the information with the sensitivity it deserves.

“So, wait-” Inko looks over at Tsuna. “Sorry, I have so many questions, but… Do they get their own quirks as well as the one they inherit? And what about the mothers or fathers that married into his side of the family? Did those pass on as well?”

Nana can’t help her laugh. Now she knows where Izuku gets his rambling from. It’s adorable!

“I don’t know,” she admits. “Iemitsu, my ex-husband, has all that information. It’s why I need to call him and get a copy of the records. Tsuna’s only ever had a handle on his intuition and we both know he can use fire.”

“You mentioned his intuition before, but I don’t know what it does,” Inko points out. In the silence of Nana registering that, they can hear a pencil scratching against paper and some muttering coming from Izuku.

“The easier question is what it doesn’t do,” Nana says. “As far as I know, it’s a danger sense, he can tell when someone is lying, and he can pick on what people are feeling. I don’t know if this is all it does, though. It concerns me about how little I know.”

She senses Tsuna turn around, peeking over the couch next to Izuku. If he’s upset over them talking about his quirk like this, he doesn’t show it. 

“Well, anyway, I have faith in it,” Nana remarks, watching her son beam proudly.

“That certainly sounds useful,” Inko says. “Do you plan on going into heroics with it?” She directs her question at Tsuna, whose face twitches. 

“I don’t know.” Tsuna shrugs. Nana knows he really means ‘no’, but any time he’s said that, adults kick up a fuss about ‘what a waste’ it was that he wasn’t going to use ‘for the greater good’. Nana lets it go, as she doesn’t really count it as lying. 

“You’ll figure it out,” Inko says with a warm smile. Tsuna cheers up a little at that, nodding. 

“We shouldn’t let this get cold!” Nana diverts their attention to the food. “Dinner is ready.”

The scramble to get over to the table results in Tsuna tripping over air and Izuku falling onto him after he, too, trips. Nana tries not to laugh at the pile of boys groaning on the floor, nursing their aches. Instead, she makes sure they’re not seriously hurt. 

During dinner, they maintain a peaceful chatter that takes Nana’s mind off the fact that Tsuna’s quirk is still unknown to her. It’s only a matter of time! She’ll pry the information out of Iemitsu, regardless of what it’ll take.

Once they finish dinner, they all head into the living room, where Nana sets up a movie. Inko takes a seat next to her on the couch, while the boys lay beside each other on the floor, cushions under their bodies. Halfway through the film, Nana becomes aware of the fact that her hand is being held. 

Nana squeezes Inko’s hand, a grin on her lips, and hopes that this warm feeling never goes away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It probably wasn’t necessary to get into Tsuna’s quirk that much for this fic, but it does set things up and helps me build up to the next story in the series (I haven’t made it part of one yet, but it’s planned. I just have to find a suitable name for it!). Rest assured, more KHR characters will be introduced in the next one (maybe even this one? I haven't decided yet).
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading and leaving your support! It means so much to me.

In the end, Nana manages to get Tsuna to agree to talk to his father whenever she manages to get ahold of him. Turns out, it’s quite a struggle to catch a wanted vigilante at the ‘right’ time. She settles for calling once every hour. As clingy as it is, she can’t trust Iemitsu to call back even when he sees that she’s called, because that’s how he is. Not intentionally, she doesn’t think; he’s so busy, he tends to be forgetful and tugged into all directions at once. It’s… it’s a little annoying. 

Nearing lunchtime, Nana is beginning to lose all hope of reaching him, at least for today, but then her phone vibrates. Checking it, she sees its a request for video chat. She nearly wilts in her relief and taps the phone, accepting the call. 

The first thing she notes is how bedraggled Iemitsu is. His chin is covered in stubble and with that beard he has on his chin it’s, um, it’s not a great look. His eyes are glassy and red like she’s just woken him up. It makes her wince a little. Of course, it’s Iemitsu- he notices and smiles, a little strained. How could she ever forget that he’s so observant?

“I’m so sorry. Is this a bad time?” Nana asks, eyebrows furrowed. 

“Never, not for you,” Iemitsu says. Nana hides the pang she feels at the words. “I just woke up, is all. What’s going on? You’ve called me quite a few times.”

Nana had been hoping he’d save any sentimentality to himself. Part of her knows that this is how Iemitsu is. He may have respected the divorce and let it go without much protest, but he still loves her. She can only hope that, in time, he will move on and be happy.

“It’s not an emergency.” Nana looks up as she begins walking to the living room. She’ll need to sit down for this. When she gets there, Tsuna’s on the floor, playing with toy robots. She smiles. “It’s just, I never really fully understood your family’s quirk, and now that Tsuna’s showing the signs, I need all the information I can get.”

“Oh?” Iemitsu’s expression closes off. He had better not be vindictive enough to make her struggle through this without any knowledge of how Tsuna’s quirk works or what he may have inherited. 

“I know you’re not likely to send any paper records over, but if you could just-” 

“Nana,” Iemitsu interrupts. “Has Tsuna been using his quirk? What brought this on?”

“Well… yes and no, but I’d need to know this anyway,” Nana admits. “It was negligent of me not to learn more when I had the chance.”

“I see.” Iemitsu looks away from the screen, contemplative. He returns to her gaze after the moment of silence. “Are you going to need anything else? My family tree, as an example?”

“Yes, please,” Nana says. “You know I wouldn’t let any of these papers fall into anyone else’s hands, right?” She wonders if that’s why he’s being so reluctant.

“Don’t worry about that.” Iemitsu’s lips twist. He turns his face away from the phone again and it occurs to her that someone else is in the room when he starts speaking rapid Italian. There’s the sound of a door opening and closing. He lets out a sigh and adjusts the way he’s sitting on his chair. “The papers will take a while to get there. Is that all you needed?”

“If I can think of anything else, I’ll let you know.” Nana is relieved that she didn’t have to pry this out of him at least. “Is there anything you can tell me for now? While I wait for the papers?”

“I can’t say too much,” Iemitsu says. This, she knows, is code for ‘there are ears everywhere’. It’s one of those things that Iemitsu taught her ages ago. At least it’s still coming in handy. “However, if Tsuna’s manifested fire or ice, he’s going to need special gloves to prevent him from injuring his hands. Oh, and Nana? Trust his intuition. It’ll rarely be wrong.”

This is something Nana already knew, but it’s nice to have the confirmation. There’s also a question of where on Earth she’s going to find gloves that can help with that.

“So… Until I can find something to help with that, he can’t practice his quirk?” Nana asks, eyebrows furrowing. She looks down at Tsuna, who is trying to look as though he’s not listening intently to their conversation.

“Yeah, probably.” Iemitsu scrapes at his stubble, putting the sound directly through the microphone. Nana tries not to wince. “I’d pass on some gear myself, but I don’t think he’ll ever want to be associated with that.” He stresses the last word with graveness that belies his relief. She catches it anyway, eyes widening.

Seeing that she knows what he’s talking about, he gives one sharp nod, then smiles cheerfully. It’s a carefully crafted persona, one that made her fall in love with him in the first place, but it only leaves a bitter taste in her mouth now. 

The gear he’s talking about. Gear from Vongola is specially crafted and it would be hard to explain how she got it if anyone asked. It’s probably better that she tries to enquire with official companies dedicated to making costumes for heroes. She looks over at her son and tries not to think about the events that would lead up to her boy being a part of such a large and shady organization. Both Iemitsu and herself want to prevent that, but… Even if he did, she would never love him less than she does now.

“Is there anything else I should look for?” Nana asked, tucking her feet under herself. “I don’t like being caught unaware and-”

“Nana,” Iemitsu cuts in. “I trust you’ll be able to handle whatever happens. I’m very busy. I can’t talk much more right now.” It’s another code for ‘you’re entering dangerous territory, please don’t pry any further.’ Hearing it now, Nana sets her jaw and nods, feeling disappointed. 

“Thank you,” Nana says and tries not to use a hard tone, though the temptation to do so is there. “Let me know when you send the papers. Preferably as soon as possible.”

Iemitsu nods as though he understands how dire it is that she needs this information, but there’s something in his eyes that says he doesn’t. Before she can reiterate, he’s bidding his byes and hanging up on her. She’s left staring at the wallpaper of her phone, which is herself and Tsuna showing off their painted nails, both grinning at the camera. 

There’s something dreadful building in her gut that says Iemitsu won’t do as she asked and she’ll encounter Tsuna’s quirks all on her own, without knowing what to do or how to help him. 

As though sensing her falling mood, Tsuna climbs up beside her and puts his head against her chest. It prompts her to comb through his spikes. 

Determined not to let this ruin her day, she picks her phone up again and sends a text to Inko, asking if they can all go to the playground if she isn’t busy. When she receives a positive answer, Nana stands, picking Tsuna up as she does. Tsuna sputters about him being heavy, but it’s quite the opposite; she knows this boy has her genes. He’s small and lean, despite eating everything she sets in front of him, and she suspects that this won’t change until he’s in high school. He’ll be a late bloomer for sure.

She puts him down near his room and tells him to go get ready. He scrambles off and she heads into her room, doing the same. She chooses a floral shirt and a long flowing skirt, suitable for the weather, and with just enough effort while still being lazy about it. She’s not in the mood to put much more effort than that. Once she’s done, she heads into the kitchen to prepare a basket of food, because a picnic sounds lovely right about now. Tsuna comes out of his room when she locates a blanket to take with them. He’s chosen a lion hoodie she got him for his birthday, with ears on the hood, and a small tail on the back. She can’t even count how many pictures she’s taken of him in it.

Upon leaving the apartment, they bump into the Midoriyas, who had been waiting in the hall.

“Sorry for making you wait!” Nana frets, locking the door behind them.

“Oh, no, we just got out here,” Inko reassures, her hands waving in front of her. 

“That’s good, then.” Nana sighs in relief. She watches the other woman’s gaze flit down towards Tsuna’s hoodie and she gasps. 

“So cute!” Inko coos, hands coming up to frame her face. “Where’d you get it?”

“I’ll send you a link,” Nana says, pulling out her phone. “There are so many and they even make onesies. I found myself getting one!” She sends over the store’s link, hearing Inko’s phone ping.

Tsuna takes this time to give Izuku a look, then trails over and grabs the boy’s hand, tugging him away from the cooing mothers. Nana notices them starting to walk and begins to follow, Inko beside her. Izuku eventually takes the lead and brings them all to a park a couple of blocks away. There are a few families already there, but they manage to find a spot in the shade under a tree.

Nana spreads the blanket after the boys run off to go play. She sets the basket into the middle, sitting down and positioning herself so she can keep an eye on Tsuna and Izuku. The last time she went to a playground with her son, she remembers getting angry at other parents for allowing their kids to treat Tsuna like dirt. How a parent could overlook such behavior is beyond her. She knows she’s lucky that Tsuna seems more inclined towards compassion than bullying, though.

She talks with Inko, but the conversation fades into a comfortable silence. While she pulls out a sketchbook and some pencils, Inko’s got a book open in her lap. Nana can’t resist drawing Inko’s profile, trying to capture the way shadows form a pattern against her skin, light poking through the leaves to form it. In the background, as she works, she can hear children laughing and a dog barking. It is the kind of peace that finally sets her at ease.

Half an hour passes and the boys finally come trailing back, stomachs growling. Nana sets aside her drawing, tucking it away so the wind doesn’t flutter her pages everywhere. Inko digs into the basket and starts passing around the bentos. They all eat as they idly chatter, Tsuna seeming brighter than Nana’s ever seen him be. 

Turning to look at the woman in front of her, Nana notices some crumbs on Inko’s cheek. Parental instinct takes over and she reaches across the blanket, wiping them off with her thumb. When she realizes what she’s done, she sputters, staring into Inko’s wide eyes with her own. She blushes and pulls her hand back, watching red bloom over the cheeks Nana had touched a few seconds before.

“Sorry! I’m just so used to- I mean, kids, you know?” Nana can’t look at the other woman, tugging a few strands of her short hair. 

“No, no, it’s okay!” Inko says. Nana peers at her. Inko has stopped flushing, but there’s a teasing smile on her face. Somehow their roles were reversed, Nana thinks, pouting. She had been enjoying being the playful one!

They go back to eating, but as the day passes them by, Nana can’t help think that they’re starting to feel like a real family. It’s a feeling that Nana has missed dearly.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the time skips have begun. I’m not going to do it too often, but if I went through daily life as slowly as I have been, they’d never get married. So enjoy some fluff! I wanted to get this chapter out much sooner, but that’s how life is sometimes.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you need anything.

Months pass them by, but not without some incidents here and there. Kids will still attempt to mess with Tsuna and Izuku, but they swiftly experience consequences for their actions and by now, they’ve decided it’s too much trouble to even try anymore. As far as Nana knows, this has possibly hindered the boys from making more friends, but they seem content. When asked, Tsuna said he was happy he has Izuku and that’s all he really needed, which was sweet but didn’t do a thing to ease Nana’s worries. 

Of course, Tsuna and Izuku aren’t the only ones that have grown close to each other. Nana feels as though she and Inko are on the cusp of something that goes deeper than friendship. Talking is inevitable when they walk to and from school with the boys almost every day, but somehow it’s more than that. It’s in the meaningful looks she’ll catch from Inko out of the corner of her eye, the lingering feeling of Inko’s touch against the back of her hand, and the way her compliments toed the line of flirty. At the very least, Nana hopes she isn’t reading too much into it and giving herself false hopes. 

Turns out she need not worry about that, because that Thursday, Inko lingers outside her door instead of walking inside after they’ve dropped the boys off at school. 

“Is everything okay?” Nana asks. The walk back had been littered with a nervous tension that she wasn’t sure how to break. 

“Oh, yes!” Inko looks up, fingers pressed together. She takes a breath, steeling herself. “It’s just- I noticed… something. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t my imagination.”

Nana’s head tilts to the side, pulling her hand back from her door handle. She tucks her keys back into her purse, giving Inko her full attention. 

“I’ve been wondering if… there’s some sort of attraction between us,” Inko says at last, cheeks blooming red. It makes Nana fluster as well, taking her back to a time during college when she last felt like this.

“I can’t deny like that I’ve been hoping for something more, but I’d never want to make you uncomfortable, Inko-chan,” Nana admits. “Friendship isn’t off the table.”

“No!” Inko shakes her head, then sputters. “I mean! It doesn’t have to be a friendship if the feeling is mutual, which it seems to be.”

Nana feels like someone’s punched her heart a couple of times as Inko continues to ramble, looking increasingly more embarrassed as time goes on. Nana lets it happen, busy trying to process everything. Eventually, she finally speaks;

“I like you a lot, Inko-chan.” 

Nana has the pleasure of watching Inko’s mouth hang open in the middle of her sentence, cut off from her next words. 

“I would be delighted to take you out to dinner this Saturday,” Nana says, in addition to her confession. “Maybe at seven?”

Inko’s the one left processing this time before she gets a steely glint in her eyes. 

“Only if you’ll let me take you out next weekend, same time,” Inko says. 

“How could I say no?” Nana asks, grinning at the other woman. Inko returns the smile with a sunny beam of her own. Nana feels enough confidence to dart over and press a kiss to her round cheek, then backs off, and opens her own door.

“Saturday, at seven. I’ll pick you up.” Nana winks, watching Inko’s hand come up to cup where Nana had kissed. She darts inside her apartment then leans back against the door. Nana isn’t sure if Inko is still outside, so she tries not to squeal too loudly.

Tsuna’s a little confused at how elated Nana is when she picks him up that afternoon, but he ends up just as happy as she, swinging their hands back and forth between them as they walk.

X

That Saturday, Nana explains to Tsuna that she’s going out for a little while and that she’s found a babysitter for him, as well as Izuku. She wouldn’t have been bothered if Inko had decided to take the boys along, but they’re both in agreement that they should be able to focus on each other. 

Nana knows she’ll also have to explain to Tsuna that she’s dating Inko now (something they had also agreed on when Nana asked in clarification through a conversation on Friday), but she’s doesn’t want to rush things, in the event that they have no chemistry or that Inko decides they’re better off as friends. Part of her wonders if Tsuna hasn’t already gotten an idea of that nature, anyway, considering the way he takes in how dressed up she is. 

As tempted as she had been to go overboard, she’d settled on a long black dress, with long sleeves, and low neckline, emphasized by the silver necklace she’d put on. It still seemed a bit much she thought to herself when she looked in the mirror, but it was one of the only formal dresses she had. That was the extent of how far she was going tonight, though. Nana is not springing a five-star restaurant on Inko, because that’s probably going too far, but she isn’t taking her to a cheap place either. She only hopes that Inko doesn’t worry about the money. 

Though she’s never talked about it, nor spoken much about them, her family is old money. The amount of cash Iemitsu is still sending her for child support is nothing to scoff at, either. What she brings in herself is also no small amount, having grown comfortable enough to start selling her paintings.

Her musings are cut off when the door is knocked on. She lifts her skirt up and hurries over to the door. Seeing that it’s the babysitter, she lets them in and introduces Tsuna to them. Once the babysitter has all that they’ll need, Nana slips into her shoes and heads on over to Inko’s apartment, with intentions of bringing Izuku back to be watched as well.

She knocks on the door and it’s opening by Inko, who is breathing as though she ran to answer it. Her embarrassment seems to fade when she takes in Nana, but she’s not the only one gawking. Nana is pleased to see they’re matching somewhat, Inko having gone with a white gown that hangs around her knees, with a rounded neckline. Her hair isn’t in the bun that Nana is used to, hair spilling onto her shoulders. She’s stunning. Nana feels incredibly lucky at this moment.

Izuku is gathered up, carrying a large bag and a pillow in his other hand. They planned this as a sleepover, not sure how late they’d stay out for their date, and the boys had been ecstatic. Izuku likes to think that Nana doesn’t know the boys are testing ways in which they can figure out how to make Tsuna’s other mysterious quirks to activate, and only hopes that they don’t actually manage. She doesn’t want the poor babysitter to have to deal with that.

When the boys are settled in Nana’s apartment, she waits for Inko to grab a black wrap to go around her shoulders, and her purse, before they’re off. Nana had picked something on the classy side, with good reviews. She did have to splurge a little to get reservations so soon, but she had managed and was told they’d have a lovely seat overlooking the city. 

“You look amazing,” Nana says as they walk together. Inko’s stuttering reaches her ears and she can’t help her laugh.

“You’re beautiful yourself,” Inko manages, eyes darting to her and then back to the street ahead of them. Nana brightens, offering her arm to Inko, who links her own through it. Though it's far from cold out, Inko’s warmth is appreciated.

“It’s been a while since I’ve last been on a date.” Inko scratches at her cheek with her free hand. 

“Ah, me too, but don’t worry about that, okay?” She smiles at Inko. Nana can’t even recall the last time she’d been on a date herself, and while she does find herself anxious over the fact she doesn’t want the date to go horribly wrong, she thinks it’d only make things worse if that’s all they focused on.

Lucky for both of them, they reach the restaurant and the night continues just fine. During dinner, Nana gazes at Inko across the table, sure she’s embarrassing herself by the obviousness of her admiration, but it’s returned by Inko, whose smile is warm and ecstatic. Though their conversation is quiet, their laughing is not, and they are unbothered by the looks they receive. There is one fumble where Nana spills her wine on the table, but other than that? Nana wouldn’t change a thing.

After dessert, they talk a walk downtown, framed by city lights. By the time they make their way back to the apartments, it’s nearing two in the morning, and Nana is discretely hiding her yawns behind her hand. Inko seems to be the same, blinking sleepily, but with a soft smile that melts Nana every time she sees it.

They part from each other at Nana’s door, but the other woman doesn’t leave it at that. Perhaps in revenge for the kiss Nana had given her on the cheek, Inko doesn’t hold back, and gives her one, too. The determined look on her face makes Nana laugh, cupping Inko’s cheeks, pulling her in for a kiss on the lips. How can she resist? She can’t. When she pulls away, she thumbs at the lipstick she left behind with a quiet chuckle. 

Inko backs up towards her apartment and they smile goofily at each other until Inko’s out of sight, the door closing with a click behind her. Nana steps into her own apartment and excuses the babysitter, paying them a hefty sum for staying so late. They thank her and then they’re gone, leaving Nana with two sleeping boys huddled together in the living room.

She flicks all the lights off and changes in her pajamas, washing her makeup off her face. When she finally lays down in bed, closing her eyes, she thinks about Inko. She rolls onto her side, burying her grin into a pillow she wraps her arms around. She already can’t wait for their next date.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, another update?? A miracle. Hope you all enjoy this one! 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you have any questions.

More months have passed by since their first date and the result? There isn’t a day where they’re not spending time at each other’s apartments and sleepovers have become so common, Izuku and Tsuna have stopped asking about the possibility, expecting it to happen regardless. Of course, this hasn’t bothered either of them, having grown to be best friends. Nana has dozens of pictures of them hanging out. In fact, her current wallpaper is one where Izuku and Tsuna are napping against each other, books open on their laps.

Even so, there is one thing bothering Nana and while it’s not necessarily a problem, she doesn’t want to bring it up just yet. It doesn’t feel like it’s the right time, but it’s been starting to seem like it’s a waste to keep paying for both apartments when one is almost always empty. This isn’t the only thing on her mind. No, it’s that, well-

Today, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Nana walks into Inko’s apartment, as usual, only to find many, many objects floating in the living room. She would have passed it off as something Inko was doing if it weren’t for the fact that both her and Izuku are also floating. Tsuna is on the floor, staring at his hands, very obviously panicking. When the door shuts behind her with a loud sound, Tsuna startles and looks over at her, eyes wide.

It’s not the first time she’s ever seen him look so lost, but it tugs at the heart nonetheless, and she makes her way over to him. This turns out to be a mistake because the second she crosses the invisible boundary of zero gravity, she, too, begins to float. Before Tsuna can begin to freak out more, Inko lets out a giggle. Izuku’s laugh follows and suddenly Nana can’t help herself. Conflicted, she wants to comfort her baby, but Izuku flies by upside down and she loses it.

“Can-” She snorts and smothers her giggles behind a hand, then tries again. “Can someone tell me how this happened?”

She tries to calm down and see what’s going on. She notes that all objects are gravitating around Tsuna. She’s sure that if he had more control, he could make use of gravity as he likes, but it looks as though it has to gravitate within a certain area around him. She wonders if this means that the older he gets, the more area he has to control. She’s not one hundred percent on this, though. If she hadn’t known about gravity manipulation passing on down Iemitsu’s line, she could very well have mistaken it for telekinesis. 

Speaking of Iemitsu, she hasn’t been able to get ahold of him again and the papers he promised to send have not arrived. She doubts they will. It hurts that he lied to her face about it, but that was months ago. Still, if this is going to be a common occurrence, Nana wonders if she’s going to start getting grey hairs early. 

“Um,” Izuku says, wiggling his body so he can face upright. “That might be my fault? Sorry, Nana-san.”

Why is she not surprised?

“Oh? Were you trying to discover the rest of Tsu-kun’s quirk again?” She asks, trying to kick off some objects to get closer to her son. The lost expression on his face is gone and replaced with embarrassment, as well as shame.

“I just figured it couldn’t hurt to try and see if we could find out more about it,” Izuku replies. “Theoretically, when his quirk first manifested, shouldn’t they have all showed up around the same time? What are the missing quirks and are there any new ones? And does it feel the same when using a different quirk? Does it take the same amount of concentration? As you can see… Oh, but, uh, we definitely forgot to factor in.... this.”

Nana didn’t interrupt Izuku’s rambles, but she did share a look with Inko as best as she could. Within reach of Tsuna, she grabs his hands. When Tsuna doesn’t start levitating with all of them, she sighs in relief.

“Well, I’m not mad, but maybe this is something you should think about next time? What would you boys have done if it was that ice Iemitsu mentioned?” Nana suggests. “Alright, Tsu-kun, close your eyes and concentrate on that part of you that feels active.” 

She’s totally winging this and hoping it works, but if she sounds like she knows what she’s doing, Tsuna is more likely to listen to her. 

“I’m sorry, but did you say _ice_?” Inko cuts in before she can continue. 

“Ah, uh… About that…” Izuku trails off, nervously fidgeting with his fingers. “We already kind of discovered that one last week. The water all over the bathroom floor? Yeah…”

Nana’s head swings back at Izuku, then over at Tsuna. With his hands in hers, she turns them over to look at them and notices that they do, indeed, look a little red.

“Izuku!” Inko chides, eyebrows furrowed. 

“We’re sorry!” Tsuna winces, drawing into himself, not unlike a turtle. 

“Knowingly attempting to use the ice and fire when you know it could hurt you is something I can’t be happy about,” Nana says, hesitantly. She tries to sort through the right words. “But I think we should come back to this later when we’re not floating.”

She instructs him to close his eyes again and this time, he listens. For a while, nothing seems to change, though the pacing of objects gravitating around him seem to slow. More time passes and nothing else seems to occur. 

“Tsuna-kun,” Inko says, grabbing his attention. He looks at her with watery eyes. “Try to think about the objects you’re holding and ‘release’ them.” 

Nana is glad that Inko was here. She has no personal experiences with a quirk and she knows it shows, but she’s never had to learn about them until Tsuna was born. She’s lacking and it’s frustrating. Maybe she should think about hiring a quirk specialist or a mentor of sorts, but she doesn’t want to draw any unwanted attention to him.

After more moments of silence pass, Nana can feel herself descending. Then, all objects and people alike are dropping to the ground. Nana just barely catches herself, avoiding a nasty collision with her face and the floor. She sits up on her knees and looks over, checking on Izuku. He’s rubbing his back, sitting up with one hand bracing behind him. Inko had, miraculously, landed while standing upright. 

“I am so glad this didn’t happen outside,” Nana says in the silence as they were all contemplating on what had happened. 

“I don’t even want to think about it,” Inko replies, placing a hand on her forehead. “Ice, fire, gravity, and intuition. What comes next?”

“I’m sorry,” Tsuna whispers, voice raspy from holding back the tears Nana can see from where she’s standing. Inko’s eyes widen in alarm.

“Oh, honey, no,” Inko speaks. “I’m not angry. I was worried, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to either of you and in this world, sometimes quirks can do things we don’t want them to.”

Still hunched, trying to make himself smaller, Tsuna nods in understanding. Izuku comes to stand by him, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“Are we in trouble?” Izuku asks, drawing Tsuna up to his side. They share a look, Tsuna’s saying ‘Don’t you dare’ and Izuku’s replying with ‘Watch me’. Knowing where this is going, Nana decides to set aside their worries. 

“For hiding the ice incident last week and for today, you are both to clean up the living room. No taking the blame and the punishment for themselves,” Nana declares. She peers at Inko to see if this is acceptable. 

“I’m going to add that you must have at least one of us in the room when you’re interrogating Tsuna about his quirk,” Inko adds. Nana agrees with this. 

“Okay.” Izuku tugs Tsuna towards the mess in the living room and Nana watches them start picking things up. 

She sidles over to Inko and stands at her side. 

“I’m glad they’re working on this together.” Nana leans against Inko’s shoulder. 

“Me too.” Inko’s pinkie links with Nana’s. 

Once the living room is restored to order, Nana perks up. 

“Alright, who’s going to help me with snacks? I’ve decided we’re going to watch a movie and paint our nails.” Izuku and Tsuna scramble towards the kitchen, Nana laughing as she follows behind them. Not to be left out, Inko trails along, smiling widely.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter may or may not be dialogue heavy, but it was necessary.
> 
> It was also brought to my attention that it might seem like I’m focusing on Tsuna and how OP his quirk is making him seem (but I mean, anime protag life, am I right?). Either way, that wasn’t my intention. It’s just that Izuku’s development happens so much later in canon? I’m getting to it!! Even still, there is something I can do for him and that’s featured a little in this chapter. 
> 
> Izuku & Tsuna are the best brothers. This family is so fun to write.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support, it means so much to me! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you have any questions.

Two years have gone by since she’s moved to Musutafu and in all of her life, she’s seen many things. That’s why Nana likes to think that there aren’t many things that can still surprise her. Namely, when Inko is teaching Nana to knit (and it’s not going great, she can say that much), Izuku coming up and asking if there’s a way for him to start learning self-defense is not entirely a big shock. Yet, even still, it does knock her off guard and for a second she can only stare at the boy, while Inko sits back and gives this some serious thought.

“What brought this up?” Inko asks, setting down her knitting needles. 

Izuku toes at the floor and holds his hands behind him, chewing on his lip. She’s starting to see some aspects where Tsuna has rubbed off on the boy. 

“Heroes need to learn how to protect others, right?” Izuku timidly meets his mom’s eyes. “And… I don’t have anything that could help me do that.”

Nana puts a hand on Inko’s knee when she sees her lips tremble. 

“That sounds like a good idea,” Nana says, putting her opinion out there. She, herself, doesn’t have a grasp on self-defense and she regrets having not taken any classes when she was younger. 

“I’ve put a lot of thought into it,” Izuku adds, bringing out the puppy eyes. 

“I didn’t doubt that for a second.” Inko smooths down the fabric of the skirt over her thighs, taking a second to think about her answer. “Will doing this make you happy?” 

Izuku contemplates, before firmly nodding. 

“And was this an idea that you had?” Although Inko sounds accusing, she has a point. Tsuna’s in tune with emotions and if this is something that’s been bothering Izuku (and it’s likely that it has) then it’s entirely possible her son gave Izuku the suggestion. Tsuna’s so sneaky about it, too, making it seem like the person he was convincing came up with the idea all by themselves.

Izuku’s guilty silence gives her the answer she was looking for.

“I don’t have to go alone, but… Tsuna didn’t seem like he wanted to join me,” Izuku pleads.

Nana doesn’t mean to snort, but she can picture her son giving absolutely no effort and then getting kicked out of the classes because of it. Inko raises an eyebrow, but Nana shakes her head; she’ll tell her why she laughed later.

“How about you give me a night to think about it and maybe talk to both Nana as well as Tsuna about it?” Inko reaches over and ruffles Izuku’s green curls. 

Truth be told, Nana doesn’t have to think about it long. She can see that this is something Izuku wants and maybe it will come in handy later. If not for his dream of getting into U.A, then just in case he has any rough encounters later on in life. She doesn’t think Izuku’s the kind of boy to sit back when someone’s in trouble and being able to do something about it can only be a good thing.

Of course, that isn’t to say she can’t see the downsides. That being Izuku will get hurt and that’s just inevitable. He’ll come home with bruises and sprains because martial arts is anything but easy. If it’ll be hard for her to see, then she can only imagine what Inko would feel. Granted, Nana had her own experiences with seeing her son hurt.

Part of her wants to send Tsuna with Izuku so that they can keep an eye on each other. Tsuna’s reluctance to become a hero stems from his qualms with his quirk and maybe some personal problems he’ll have to work on in the future, but she doesn’t think he’ll say no if it means he can be there in person to make sure Izuku doesn’t get in over his head. However, she also knows that he’d ask why he couldn’t sit off to the side until it’s time to walk home. 

Izuku lets Inko pet his curls with a longsuffering expression on his face. When her hand pulls away, he wanders over to Tsuna, who had been peeking on the exchange from the doorway of Izuku’s room. Nana doesn’t miss the thumb’s up exchanged between the two of them. 

With that, Inko picks up the knitting needles and instructs Nana to do the same. She tries to hold in her groan, but Inko’s quiet laugh tells her she failed.

X

Later that evening, Nana takes Tsuna home to give Inko some room for thought, but it’s not the only talk she had wanted to have. Still, she needs some space to discuss martial arts with Tsuna, too. He’s more open with her when no one’s around to judge him over the whole hero thing. Of course, she doesn’t think either Inko or Izuku would, but to soothe her son’s anxieties, she brought him back to the apartment.

Nana sets up space in the living room where she piles cushions, blankets, and pillows. She sits down on one side and pats a spot in front of her, where Tsuna climbs into. He slips on a blanket and she manages to catch him, helping him adjust where he’ll be sitting. She wonders if he’ll grow out of the clumsiness because she doubts she’ll be strong enough to keep him from falling over when he gets bigger. 

“I think you already know what this is about,” Nana says, watching Tsuna hesitantly nod. “Then you must know what I’m about to ask, right?”

“If I want to go with him?” Tsuna asks, playing with the sleeves of his shirt. 

“Yep,” Nana chirps. “Do you?”

“It would make Inko-san feel better,” Tsuna says, squeezing his sleeves tighter. “But, um, I don’t want Izu to feel… left out.” 

She tilts her head, signaling she’s listening. It reassures him, as he relaxes his shoulders, though his grip doesn’t.

“He likes learning about my quirk, but… I can tell he’s frustrated. He wants to be a hero no matter what.” Tsuna switches to rubbing the back of his head. “I can defend myself.”

Nana’s lips quirk. “Not if quirk usage in public without a hero license is illegal.”

Tsuna ducks his head, cheeks dusting with a ruddy color. 

“What are you really afraid of, Tsu-kun?” She asks, reaching over to grab his hands, rubbing her thumb against his knuckles.

“I don’t… want to it to seem like I’m rubbing my quirk in his face and I don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to stay ahead of him,” Tsuna admits. “I don’t want him to hate me.”

“He’s not going to hate you if you decide to attend martial arts with him,” Nana chides. It’ll be a scary day when she sees that boy hate anyone (and anyone capable of that better watch out). 

He doesn’t look convinced but moves on to another issue.

“I’m not going to be a hero, so why learn martial arts?” Tsuna asks. 

“You don’t have to be a hero, but you can certainly learn how to defend yourself in the event of a villain attack,” Nana says. “And, well, you’re a lot like Izuku in that you can’t ignore someone in need of help.”

Tsuna scrunches his nose but doesn’t deny the accuracy of this statement. Mostly, he’s disgruntled because the very definition of a hero is someone who helps others at any cost and that’s a core of his personality, as well as Izuku’s. However, Tsuna thinks it’s more so towards the people he cares about than random strangers, but only Nana understands that.

“Inko wants an answer from us tomorrow,” Nana points out. “So you don’t have to decide right now, but there is another thing I wanted to ask you.” 

Tsuna’s raises his eyebrow at her. 

“I haven’t talked to Inko about this yet, but… This would affect you, so your input means a lot to me,” Nana says. “Would you be open to living with Inko and Izuku?” 

Tsuna’s eyes grow wide for a second, but there’s some consideration there. He can tell she’s being serious.

“That’d be so cool,” Tsuna breathes, squirming in excitement. Nana grins.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” she says, reaching over to comb through Tsuna’s bangs. Noting their length, she wonders if it’s time for a trim.

“But, um, these apartments are kind of small,” Tsuna says, with a glance around the living room. He’s not wrong, she thinks.

“We wouldn’t be staying in the apartments, I don’t think,” Nana replies. She doesn’t want to, anyway. As nice as they are, there are only three rooms in hers, and Inko’s is a two bedroom, which won’t work for them. Inko might show some reluctance, but Nana can shell out enough cash for a luxury home if only for the extra space they’d get with it. After all, she’s saved up over the years.

“This wouldn’t be happening right away, even if Inko agrees,” Nana informs Tsuna, who nods in understanding. 

“Well, now that all that’s out of the way, try to think about the martial arts classes, okay? Even if you give it a try and decide you don’t like it.” Nana pats his hair. He nods and she stands up, setting up a movie.

He snuggles up to her side and though she can tell he’s not paying much attention to the screen, she feels better. 

X

The next day, while Tsuna and Izuku are at school, Nana hangs around the apartment. She’s currently sketching Inko as the other woman paces around the living room. Nana had been open, telling Inko that it’s a good thing Izuku is expanding his horizons. Inko’s fretting is something Nana can relate to, but she had channeled it into paint on a canvas last night after the movie ended. 

“Tsunayoshi still hasn’t given you an answer?” Inko inquires from across the room, skating around the kotatsu. Nana erases some pencil lines and looks up. 

“No, not yet, but I doubt he’ll let Izuku go by himself.” If anything, he’ll do it too if Izuku asks and to save Inko some worry, even if he won’t be happy about it. 

“It keeps coming back up, but it doesn’t take a genius to see Tsuna wants nothing to do with being a hero,” Inko says, stopping by the couch. Her eyebrows are furrowed with thought and concern. “I don’t remember if you ever told me why.”

“I don’t fully understand it myself, but I think my ex-husband played a big part in it,” Nana responds. “Tsuna really doesn’t like his father.” 

Not that she blames him, of course. His first ever meeting with the man was six years after he’d been born and Iemitsu had dropped him in his carelessness. After that, he proceeded to get so drunk he passed out on the couch. As first impressions go? Not great. It also doesn’t help that Nana had spent many-a-year being sad over him never being home. Tsuna may seem like a bright and compassionate boy, but if you ever give him a reason to hold a grudge, he will. 

“Not to say that there aren’t other factors in his decision,” Nana continues. “I’m not sure how to get him to talk to me about it.”

“Kids don’t want to worry their parents.” Inko nods and sits next to Nana, no longer pacing. 

“On another topic, I had something to ask,” Nana closes her sketchbook, setting it onto the table in front of her.

Inko peers into her eyes and indicates she’s listening.

“We’ve been dating for over a year now and, well, we’re always over at each other’s house.” Nana pauses, watching realization hit Inko. “I was thinking that maybe sometime soon, we could consider taking it a step further and move in together.”

“Wow.” Inko blinks, a smile creeping onto her face. “I’m so relieved!” 

Nana tilts her head in question.

“It’s just that… I’ve been thinking about how to bring it up for weeks now,” Inko admits, tapping her index fingers together. 

“Then, is that a yes?” Nana shoots up from where she’d been slouching into the couch (it’s comfortable, okay?). Inko reaches out to steady her.

“Of course! Izuku couldn’t stop bouncing all over the apartment when I asked him what he thought about it,” Inko says.

“I can’t believe we were both so worried!” Nana laughs to herself, pressing a kiss to Inko’s nose. 

“It’s a big decision,” Inko defends, but her smile grows into a grin. 

They’ll have to iron out the details later, but they make plans for a celebration and to break the news when the boys get home. It turns out to be a small party and their spirits are high, even more so when Inko tells Izuku that’s after some thought, she’ll help him find a suitable martial arts class. After that, there are plenty of tears to go around. 

When Tsuna reluctantly asks if he can tag along, Nana watches in amusement as Izuku tackles him into a hug that Inko joins a second later. Not one to be left out, Nana leaps into the group hug, knocking them all onto the floor.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter seems a little short and rushed, but I’m going to be on a road trip until Sunday (3/24/2019) and even then, there’ll be some adjustment period when I come back, so I didn’t want to make anyone wait.
> 
> Hope everyone enjoys this chapter regardless and as always, thanks for reading and leaving your support! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you have any questions.
> 
> Also!!! Someone actually drew fanart for this fic and I'm screaming!!! So much!! I love it!!!! Please, everyone, go check out [their art](https://www.instagram.com/p/BvR41zgAtdu/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1qa6bii85j5r6), it's so cute.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Tsuna and Izuku have been successfully enrolled in a dojo that teaches its students Judo. Not only was it close by, but the teacher had been reviewed as diligent and compassionate towards his students. Plus, the few times Nana had gone by to meet with him, she’d taken note of his patience, something she believes he’ll need in order to keep Tsuna motivated. Luckily for all of them, Izuku was also helping in that regard.

In the meantime, Nana’s been looking into houses that they’d all like. Some of them had been traditional, others more modern, but she has yet to find anything close to Izuku’s dream school, U.A. She looks every day and even has a few real estate agents who update her on ideal prospects, but so far nothing’s been viable or has caught her attention. 

She’s been biding her time for something perfect, though she knows they’ll eventually have to compromise if nothing opens up. Not so surprisingly, it’s hard to find a place that has more than four bedrooms in the city. Why they needed so many bedrooms, Nana has no clue, but Tsuna seemed insistent on it and when asked, he had shrugged, saying ‘intuition’. 

Though it hasn’t been all too exciting, the arrival of Nana’s birthday seems to promise something lively. In fact, in the days leading up to it, the boys have been incredibly secretive (though not subtle at all). It’s cute. Even Inko seems to have some sort of plan up her sleeve because Nana’s forbidden from joining her in the kitchen. Nana’s currently perched herself on the couch, idly attempting to read, but the sweet smell coming from the other room is distracting.

Truthfully, she’s grateful that she doesn’t have to make herself a cake like she’s done the past few years. She’s always managed to make her birthday fun because she’d had Tsuna with her, but there’s something exciting about being able to spend it with others as well. 

She doesn’t have to wait long for Inko to finish with whatever she’s doing, because she walks out of the kitchen thirty minutes later. There are patches of flour all over her, especially on her cheek as though she’d forgotten it was on her hands and she rubbed her face with them. Her apron has a few spots of something pink and from how sweet it smells, she suspects that strawberries may have been involved. 

“Just thirty more minutes,” Inko promises, taking a seat next to her after pressing a kiss to Nana’s cheek, leaving behind a stain of pink. Inko frantically tries to wipe it up, but Nana gets to it first, licking at her fingers. Strawberries for sure, Nana thinks, smiling cheekily as Inko scolds her.

“So sneaky!” Inko scolds. “It’s like you don’t enjoy surprises, considering how often I’ve caught you trying to spoil it.” 

“Sorry,” Nana apologizes, not very sorry at all. Inko clicks her tongue and shakes her head, but the grin on her face says she’s not angry.

It’s not as though Inko’s wrong. Nana does like surprises, but she’s tried to pry secrets from all three of them for an entire week. She’s got to give props to the boys, because when Izuku seemed close to spilling, Tsuna had slapped a hand over his mouth and tugged him away.

The only thing Inko’s been obvious about is the cake she is so clearly baking. If Nana has to make a guess, she’d say it’s probably vanilla with strawberries on top of, maybe, vanilla icing.

Inko threads her fingers through Nana’s, interrupting her thoughts. She gently squeezes the other woman’s hand. She flips her book closed, all but giving up on finishing it. 

“I’m surprised no one’s spilled the surprise yet,” Nana remarks, inspecting Inko’s nails. They’re a pastel purple that Nana thought would complement her eyes and hair. She’s surprised that they’re hardly chipped, but it warms her heart to know Inko must have been doing all she could to take care of them. It’s silly considering that Nana could always repaint them, but… it’s also thoughtful in a way Nana isn’t used to (outside of Tsuna, who seems to have some sort of supernatural sense for her feelings, but that’s different).

“Bribes go a long way,” Inko jokes, eyes crinkling at the corners. Nana laughs.

“Why didn’t I think of that?” She asks, pressing a kiss to Inko’s knuckles.

Somehow thirty minutes passes by so quickly when it’s just the two of them sitting on the couch. She doesn’t want to let go of Inko’s hand but does release her when she pulls away. She watches Inko dart across the room into the kitchen. From where she is, Nana can hear drawers being opened and cabinets closing. 

Nana finds herself dozing, head dipping towards her chest more than once. Something about the noise of a busy household is soothing and it’s easy to get lost in the ambiance. 

She’s shaken awake by Tsuna, who is clearly holding something behind his back. She blinks and then rubs her eyes.

“Is it time for the party?” She asks, lips twitching into a smile. Tsuna laughs, but pulls his hand from behind his back and sets a card on her lap. 

Just from a quick glance, she gathers that it’s handmade. He folded orange construction paper in half, decorated it with glitter, and he’s drawn all four of them on the front, each of them wearing party hats. When she opens the card, the word’s ‘Happy Birthday’ are clumsily written in different sizes, because he was running out of space near the edge. It’s perfect. It’s absolutely perfect.

She closes the card and sets it on the table next to the couch, then tugs Tsuna into a tight hug. She buries her face into his soft hair and feels his small hands clutch at her shirt. What did she do to deserve such an amazing son?

Tsuna isn’t the only one who comes over with a handmade card, because when she releases Tsuna, Izuku is there to take his place. He’s more shy about handing it to her, but thanks him and examines it. There’s a cake surrounded by dots from markers that she thinks is meant to be confetti. Inside, the message written is ‘Happy Birthday, #1 Mama”. She laughs and pretends there aren’t tears in her eyes, because- well, is he calling her _mama_?

“Um, Mom said that you’d like it… so I hope you do!” Izuku says, eyes darting from her to his hands and then back again.

He ran this by Inko and she approved of him calling her mama? She sets the card aside and swoops Izuku into her arms, pressing a kiss to his forehead. 

“I love it!” She says when she sits him back down. His cheeks are rosy, but he’s got a big smile on his face, matching Tsuna’s, who had been standing back and watching.

When Nana hears the sound of a picture being taken, she looks towards the kitchen. Inko is there, with a sneaky grin, phone in hand. 

“The cake is done,” Inko says before Nana can scold her. Tsuna grabs her hand and starts tugging Nana off the couch. She gets up and follows everyone into the dining room, where the cake is there, decorated with flowers surrounded by chocolate dipped strawberries. At least Nana was right about the vanilla cake and icing.

Everyone gathers around to sing happy birthday and Nana stands there, heart warm and full. When it comes to blowing out the candle, she finds she can’t make any wishes, because all she could want is already around her. She closes her eyes and blows out the candle, then watches everyone cheer. 

She still has no idea how she ever got so lucky, but… there’s not a thing in this world that could replace this.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not sure how I feel about this chapter, despite my looking forward to it. I came back from the road trip and I’ve been having a hard time focusing, because I’m not used to writing with people around me all the time, but I’ll just have to keep pushing through it. 
> 
> This also took me a while to get to because I was looking up legitimate Japanese real estate to help me out with the layout of the house and guess what? Didn’t find anything remotely close to what I wanted, so I’m winging it (I didn’t go into much detail though, aside from the number of rooms. It still baffles me how in KHR canon, Nana’s house seemed to just spawn rooms for her guests as it saw fit to). 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you have any questions.

The house Nana and Inko end up agreeing on is a two story house a couple of blocks away from U.A. Not to be sappy, she thinks, but it seems magical. Surrounded by a stone wall with flowers and plants growing on it. There’s a two car garage that will be split, one side for Nana’s art and studio, the other side for a vehicle she has plans on getting (how else will they go on family trips?). 

On the inside, there are eight bedrooms. She’d normally consider that overboard, but if Tsuna’s intuition nudged her towards that, she wonders if she’s going to end up with some guests in the future. Though she hasn’t discussed this in length with anyone, she’s always had dreams of giving Tsuna siblings (and Izuku fits that perfectly, but Nana likes the idea of a larger family). It’s something that she keeps to herself for now.

Nana ends up paying movers to help bring their larger and heavier furniture into the house. There are multiple trips taken, but at least discrete usage of Inko’s quirks helps with the smaller objects, and soon enough they’re ready to unpack their things.

The boys are happy to pick their rooms, ending up right next to each other. Nana is happy to help set up Izuku’s All Might posters, moving his bed around to where he sees fit, and she can hear Inko in the other room helping Tsuna. 

Already, the house feels lived in despite its size. This is the feeling she had been missing out on, she thinks. Mornings in bed are no longer lonely when Inko is laying beside her, cheek squished into the pillows under her head. They’re filled with laughter and pancakes, rushing around to get ready for school. She couldn’t be happier.

Nana’s been trying to teach Izuku and Tsuna how to cook and clean, skills they’ll need in the future. Inko’s been setting up a garden outside that, surprisingly, she’ll find Tsuna out there with her, talking quietly or helping her water the seedlings. Nana didn’t think Tsuna had any interest in gardening, considering how much time he spends inside the house like the introvert he is, but she’s happy if he is.

She doesn’t know how a game of hide-and-seek becomes a weekly event, but Izuku’s getting really good at it. Last time they played, he’d hidden under some blankets in a laundry basket. When Nana had finally uncovered him, she’d found that he’d fallen asleep, and had taken so many pictures of him. She can’t wait to embarrass him with it in the future by showing his friends. 

Hide and seek isn’t the only thing that becomes a regular thing; movie nights are unavoidable (though Izuku ends up having them watch hero documentaries when it’s his turn to pick), and sometimes they have spontaneous dance sessions when a good song comes on the radio. Nana would be lying if she said she never listened to Present Mic’s show on Friday nights.

She still takes Inko out on dates and vice versa. Their latest date was a walk through a garden. Nana got a lot of amazing shots of Inko surrounded by flowers- she can’t wait until she replicates them with paintings. Her favorite one had been a picture of Inko trying to tuck her hair behind her ear, despite the wind weaving through the strands and around her skirt. She’d been smiling, eyes sparkling. If Nana hadn’t been deeply in love before, she was an absolute goner after that.

One thing that’s on Nana’s mind is what she’s going to do for Inko’s birthday. Izuku’s is right after her’s, too. She already has an inkling of what to do, but she wants to make them feel the way they made her feel. It’s all she could do to pry their likes out of them without them getting suspicious about whether or not she’s making plans with what she gets. 

Other than that, it feels like the new start she had been looking for. She’d made sure to leave her new address in Iemitsu’s voicemail because he’d stopped picking up the phone after she chewed him out for lying to her about Tsuna’s papers (oh the things she could do to that man for getting her hopes up). 

At the very least, she can be happy that the kids haven’t tried any more quirk experiments, lowering the likelihood that someone gets hurt. There are times where it seems like they’re close to making another breakthrough, but then Tsuna will frown and it will stop. Nana’s looked into getting a quirk counselor to help him out, but again, there’s the matter of his quirk becoming too public. Maybe it’s silly, but she’s not oblivious to the fact that there are bad people in this world who would see this buffet of quirks and want to use it for nefarious purposes. 

Enough about those thoughts. There’s one thing Nana has been able to do for him. She’s contacted a support company about gloves that will grow with Tsuna, but enable him to use his quirk without hurting his hands. The complexity of her request will cost some money and it’ll be some time before he can get them, but without that weighing on her, Nana feels better. Tsuna even seemed a little excited when he heard that; looks like Izuku’s starting to rub off on Tsuna, about this at least.

Though it’s not surprising that the boys are close, she sees which mannerisms have been exchanged. Izuku plays with the hems of his shirts now, whenever he’s nervous. Tsuna with rubbing the back of his head more often, especially when he’s being sheepish. They both brighten like tiny balls of sunshine when they’re excited, though Tsuna’s more quiet about it still. Tsuna hasn’t been able to drop his stammering and stuttering, but she’s noticed a definite improvement in his confidence (though it still bothers her when he’s self-deprecating and she can tell Izuku hates it, too). 

The boys are sweet with each other and it’s something Nana's grateful for. Tsuna’s been increasingly more protective, but with Izuku’s quick improvement with self-defense, it’s taken a backseat to Izuku’s hero complex. That’s not to say Tsuna doesn’t have one, but it’s nice that Tsuna can rely on Izuku to protect them both. She can tell Izuku’s noticed and he’s been happier lately. They haven’t had any bullying incidents either! The relief is very real, Nana thinks.

Nana can only wish that their household remains their own brand of peaceful. Anyone that dares disrupt this will have to face her and they _will regret it._


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t even begin to describe how unfocused I felt all week. Getting this chapter out was so hard and it sucked because I was so excited to introduce a special boi. Tensions are super high in my house, so I’m doing my best, but you know how it is. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Thanks for leaving your support and kind words, they mean everything to me! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you have any questions.

After the adjustment period in the new house is over, Tsuna and Izuku begin exploring the neighborhood. Always with either Inko or Nana following along to keep an eye on them, but for the most part, things really do remain peaceful. Nana’s not necessarily worried about the boys, because it’s a safe neighborhood, but she will never underestimate people and the terrible things they can do if they put their mind to it. Two little boys are perfect targets and she’s not taking any chances.

At least it’s proving to help her out with her commissions because the park is full of real-life references for her to use. Her scenery’s never looked so accurate! The true bonus, though, is just how many photos she’s managed to collect of the boys hanging out at the park together.

Today, she’s followed them to the park again, where she finds a park bench to sit on. From this vantage point, she’s able to keep her eyes on her work and the kids. 

It’s amazing how they aren’t tired after their Judo lessons all the time, but here they are, running around playing tag. A look around tells her that there aren’t any other kids or parents hanging around, which means they’re free to be as wild as they want without disrupting the peace. Not that she’d care if there were others around to complain; kids will be kids, they need to scream and laugh, not stay silent because adults don’t like the noise.

Still, this is the most active she thinks Tsuna has ever been. For a child who gets overwhelmed easily by thoughts and feelings, he likes isolating himself in his room to play by himself. Lately, he hasn’t been doing that much, and when he does, Izuku will be on the other side of the room doing something else quietly. She wonders how they’re already so intuitive of each other’s needs.

Being in such close proximity to everyone all the time now that they share a house, it isn’t only Inko that’s she learning things about- she’s started helping Izuku with his hero sketches, something he’s a natural at. 

She’s also grown to view Izuku as her other son. After Nana’s birthday, Izuku has gotten more comfortable and is used to calling her mama, using mom for Inko. Tsuna, who had already been calling Nana ‘mama’, was ecstatic to have another mother. Nana has a video of Inko’s alligator tears the first time Tsuna had approached her and called her ‘mom’. 

Putting those thoughts on hold, Nana looks up from her sketchbook. She’s been sporadically keeping an eye on the boys and it is now that she realizes there’s a third boy here that she hadn’t seen before. He has bright red hair that matches his eyes and he’s absolutely _covered_ in bandages. Nana is not prepared for the way that hurts her heart. A quick glance around reveals no other adults and that quickly sparks anger inside her. How irresponsible, if this boy came here alone and hurt.

It seems to have struck something in Tsuna as well because he’s stopped chasing after Izuku, eyes on the hunched figure approaching the swings. He’s limping like he’s favoring one side, and Nana’s getting up from the bench before she can think twice about it. 

Tsuna beats her to him and is in the middle of asking him something when Izuku runs up as well. The redhead is still hunching in on himself, perhaps even more so when he notices he’s been crowded. Tsuna steps back, subtly nudging Izuku as he does so.

It’s around this time that Nana’s made her way up to them, catching him introducing himself as ‘Kozato Enma’. They all come to a pause when she crouches down in front of him.

“Are you okay?” Nana inquires, wanting to reach out, but keeping her hands to herself. She examines the way he flinches regardless.

“Yes, ma’am,” Enma says, voice barely above a whisper. He’s a sweet boy, she can already tell and seeing him like this about breaks her heart.

“Are your parents around?” Nana asks, looking around them, but returning her gaze back to Enma to catch the way he reacts to the question. His hesitance doesn’t escape her observation.

“I didn’t want to worry them,” Enma replies after a few seconds, seeming genuine. If that’s the problem and it isn’t that he doesn’t want to go back home for something else, Nana feels herself relaxing the tension in her shoulders. 

“How’d you get hurt, Kozato-kun?” She tucks her sketchbook into her bag, deciding she’s gotten enough work done today. 

“I tripped,” Enma mutters, fingers picking at the bandaids on his knees. “Sometimes other kids pick on me.”

She doesn’t show her surprise when he admits being bullied, but she does put a hand on his head.

“Well, Kozato-kun, how about I walk you home? Parents are always going to worry about their kids because they love them very much and I’m sure they’d be much happier if you were there,” Nana offers, standing up and holding out her hand.

Enma waits for a few seconds, as though he’s having an internal debate about going with her, but then he grasps her fingers tightly. 

After prying his address out of him, she walks with him. As they do, Tsuna and Izuku chatter with Enma. Nana watches as he perks up gradually, something that never fails to make Nana feel proud of them. 

Once she gets Enma to the house, she rings the bell, intent on talking to the parents. If Enma’s anything like Tsuna, he’ll try to hide his feelings, and she thinks it’s only fair if they know. 

When they answer the door, she is struck by how much Enma looks like his father. Down to the hair and eyes, it’s as though she’s looking at a clone. The worry on the father’s face is clear and any worries she had about talking to him drift away. 

He listens to her about her concerns regarding Enma’s bullying and seems intent on changing it. Then, Tsuna tugs at the hem of her skirt and asks her if they can play with him again one day. The light in Enma’s eyes at the question hurts in a good way (if Inko were here, she’d have probably cried). Enma’s father approves and they exchange numbers, so they can arrange a playdate later. 

She waves her goodbyes and ruffles Enma’s hair, to which he replies by shyly hiding his face, but he waves back as they leave. 

She has a good feeling about this budding friendship and she can’t wait to share with Inko about what happened.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So between battling with stress and the resulting sore throat that comes from it, I had a heck of a time focusing long enough to finish the chapter, but I think that the result is worth it! Did you see this coming? 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you have any questions.

It doesn’t take long for Nana to find a suitable car. She doesn’t need a brand new one if she’s not going to use it all the time, considering the house itself is within walking distance of the schools and shops, but it’s still a useful investment. It means that it’ll be easy to load up their things and take a day trip outside of the city, as she’d had planned for Inko’s birthday. The traffic will be a nightmare, but if they leave early enough, it won’t be so bad. Of course, the boys protest to getting out of bed at the time she wakes them, but soon enough they’ve packed up their clothes and some towels.

It’s a shame the beach closest to them is covered in garbage, she thinks. The fact that it’s been left as long as it has is… beyond sad. She’d have thought that a hero would have taken care of it by now, or at least some sort of government program. Aren’t there quirks out there that could get rid of garbage, by incineration or otherwise? 

Regardless, now is not the time to think about that. She pulls on a floral dress over her bikini and gets the boys into shirts and their trunks. Inko’s in the kitchen making everyone some bentos for the beach. Nana takes care of slathering everyone in sunscreen, as well as grabbing some umbrellas and a first aid kit. You can never be too careful, after all! It would be her clumsy boy’s luck if he got hurt at the beach. 

As for entertainment on the road, she watches Izuku load up on a few journals and Tsuna picks up a few books. With Izuku helping Tsuna out in school, he’s found reading more fun, she’s noticed. She’s relieved, but also ashamed that she couldn’t help him more, even back before they met Inko and Izuku. That’s in the past now, though. Tsuna’s interest in learning has hit an all-time high and he’s doing so well in school. Maybe not quite an A+ student like Izuku, but definitely up there. She’s so proud of them both.

Once everyone’s loaded up into the car, she stops on her way to pick up Enma. She’s surprised at how fast the kids have become friends, but Enma is a true sweetheart. Though he still seems to get pushed around at school, there’s been a noticeable difference, and it makes Nana glad she told his father about his troubles. Enma’s happier, too. The boy isn’t as shy as he once was, but that might have something to do about how close he’s become to the family. She won’t admit it, but she’s so close to just outright begging to adopt this timid boy. She knows it’s a longshot though (and it’s mostly a joke, but there’s a part of her that wouldn’t mind taking him in). 

As she drives, the boys start singing along to the radio. She’s idly bobbing her head to the melody, her free hand holding Inko’s, who has been humming along to the tunes in the passenger seat. She can’t believe how lucky they are that it’s not raining right now; July is known for that kind of weather, but today it’s warm enough that she has no worries about clouds rolling in to ruin their fun. Still, she’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Despite that, traffic is a pain to deal with, and they arrive at the beach later than planned. She spends way too long trying to find a parking spot, but once that’s out of the way, they can focus on carrying their things to the sand. Nana tries to carry most of it, but Inko swoops in to snag the heavier things and makes off in a hurry, leaving Nana to scramble after her. The boys are already taking off their shoes in favor of digging their feet into the warm sand. She makes sure to keep an eye on their things, not wanting anyone to lose anything (been there, done that- Tsuna had been devastated when his favorite pair of sandals went missing, never to be found again). 

Nana trails after Inko as they decide on a suitable place to set up. They don’t want to be too far from where they parked, but also not too far from the shore, so they can keep an eye on the kids. Not that Nana plans to let them go swimming without her joining them. 

In the end, they find a perfect middle between the car and the ocean, Nana setting up the umbrella while Inko spreads out a blanket, setting a stack of towels on one corner, their basket on another. Nana piles their shoes on the opposite side of the towels, her bags going on the last, keeping the blanket pinned.

She’s happy to see Inko is enjoying herself as she joins the boys in hunting for seashells. She hasn’t told her yet, but Nana has other things planned for Inko’s birthday. Specifically, something that sits heavy in the pocket of her coverup, protected by a small velvet box. She’s careful when she pulls her dress off, setting it off to the side. She tugs at the strap of her bikini and settles in, watching as Tsuna trips over something in the sand.

She doesn’t worry long, because Izuku’s close by to offer him a hand. Enma is close behind, hands pressed over his mouth as he looks over the other boy, trying to see if he’s okay. They’re all great boys, she thinks, but something tells her that they will all be trouble one day. She doesn’t quite know how, but she can feel it in her bones. It’s a mother’s instinct, you know? 

Nana doesn’t sit there and ponder for too long before everyone comes charging back, tugging at her to join them in the water. It’s cold, but they have a splash fight. There’s a moment of hilarity when Inko starts inflating floaties and one of them is in the image of All Might. There’s something about the picture of Inko blowing into one of the weird antennae-like bangs on All Might’s head that makes Nana laugh so hard, she cries. Inko doesn’t show her any mercy and whacks Nana with one of the other floaties.

They spend an hour or so in the water before Nana has them all return to the blanket, so she can reapply sunscreen. They spend the rest of the afternoon taking turns burying each other in the side. Nana is not about to join in that adventure, though. Sand is a nightmare to clean and she knows that despite how much she thinks she’ll have taken care of it, she’ll be finding it around the house for months.

There’s a brief pause when they all stop to eat lunch. Nana bought everyone individual slices of cake so she didn’t have to worry about preventing possible squishing of an entire whole cake. They still put candles on them and push the pieces together into something resembling a circle, letting Inko blow out the flames after they sing happy birthday to her. Inko hasn’t stopped smilingly, even when the boys end up covered in icing, sprinkles, and sand. 

They stay at the beach until the sky starts turning orange, a smattering of pink clouds in the distance over the water. The boys are finally starting to get tired, lumped together on the blanket as they struggle to stay awake. Tsuna is the only one managing not to nod off, eyes fixed intently on Nana as she leads Inko out towards the water. 

Nana grabs Inko’s hand, stopping as the tide spills over her ankles. She tugs at her fingers to get her attention and then kneels down where she is, grinning up at the other woman. Inko’s eyes go wide and teary, as Nana had predicted she would.

“I had a feeling that after our first date, I would fall hard and fast,” Nana begins. “I think I ended up surprising myself at how right I was. Even then, I wasn’t scared, because I had hope. These years have been wonderful and have given me a glimpse of a future I can’t see myself giving up. Even if you said no, I would wait for you. No matter what. But I still want to ask.”

Inko’s sobbing at this point, her other hand pressed against her trembling lips, tears trailing down her cheeks. Nana knows her well- they’re tears of happiness. It bolsters her confidence and she asks;

“Inko, will you marry me?” 

Inko doesn’t have the words just yet to say yes, so she nods, frantically. She waits long enough to let Nana put the ring on her finger before she launches herself into Nana’s arms. They share a kiss and hug for a long moment. They’re interrupted by Tsuna, Izuku, and Enma crowding around, joining in for a hug of their own. Nana shares a laugh with Inko and then set about, gathering up their things.

Nana thinks this marks Inko’s birthday as a success.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, about this chapter! It's been a long time coming and I couldn't decide between a traditional Japanese marriage or a western style, but in the end, I went western style. It may or may not be entirely accurate, but BNHA is set like, in the way distant future, so anything's possible. Plus, it's a fic. Not everything has to be 100% accurate to the slightest of details.
> 
> Besides, I'm not that knowledgable about how western style weddings even work, and that's what's most common around me, so, y'know, if I get something wrong, don't roast me, okay? I tried my best at research (both in traditional Japanese weddings and western style).
> 
> Oh and bonus points for catching the foreshadowing in this chapter. Let me know what you think it is (it might be super obvious). 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you have any questions.
> 
> Edit: If you want to see the dresses that inspired me, here's [Nana's dress](https://66.media.tumblr.com/6dd0d0e2e5b861a88a7d614f74f25b95/tumblr_inline_pq0nehVlXI1wxprhp_1280.jpg) and [Inko's dress](https://66.media.tumblr.com/781f31de74f631c7c5f721e16ddd09d8/tumblr_inline_pq0nebfrJz1wxprhp_1280.jpg). Tell me what you think!  
> Edit 2: Decided against hyphenated names. *Also if you're wondering why I kept "Midoriya", I'm working under the assumption that it's Inko's surname (it just fits, it means green and Inko's hair is green? I don't know what else I would change it to. Thought about keeping Sawada too, but scrapped it, as it no longer makes sense).

Between what feels like one blink and another, a year passes them by again, and the wedding date is just around the corner. Everything’s been planned and schedules. Invites have been sent out to both friends and family. This time around, Nana’s surprised she hasn’t been hit by cold feet, but there’s assurance every time Inko walks by her, leaving behind a soft touch on her shoulder or her hand- it feels a lot like ‘you’re not alone’.

It’s probably not fair to Inko to make the assumption that Nana would have been doing the planning alone, but those thoughts had quickly evaporated when Inko was there every step of the way. From making reservations to plotting out color palettes, never once did Nana have to take every burden onto her own shoulders, and for that she was… grateful. (She knows that she shouldn’t have planned out her first wedding herself now, but… Well, it is what it is, and she’s beyond that now).

The one thing they hadn’t done together was buying their dresses. Nana had briefly contemplated wearing a suit but decided against it. She had plenty of other opportunities to wear a suit if she so wished, but when could she go all out with wedding dresses? 

That brings her to where she is now; pulling on the dress she chose. It’s a stunning white, underneath a delicate sheer lace cover that makes up her not-quite-full-sleeves, spanning across her chest down to her waist. The skirt puffs out and trails across the floor, hiding her heels underneath. Though she can’t do much with her short hair as is, she’s added a flower to sit behind her ear. 

When she looks in the mirror, she feels stunning. She hopes Inko will agree with that train of thought. Although she is brimming with nerves, Nana is only excited to get out of this room, to see Inko walk down the aisle. With a spritz of perfume that smells a lot like gingerbread, something sweet but not overpowering. She lingers in the room for a moment longer, then gathers up the skirt of her dress, heading to the door.

Outside of the room is her mother, Sayuri, whom she hasn’t seen in years. In fact, the last time they’d seen each other was when they had a fight over Iemitsu (whom she has not invited to the wedding, wisely). Part of her wishes she had listened when her mother told her that Iemitsu wasn’t good enough for her, but the other part of her is grateful for the journey up to this point. She wouldn’t trade Tsuna for anything, and with that, she wouldn’t trade Inko or Izuku. 

It had taken her a lot of courage to call her parents after how explosive their fight had been. Not so surprisingly, Sayuri told her to get over herself, and “of course we’ll be there, we love you”. After her mother spent twenty minutes pinching Tsuna’s cheeks, her father, Kichirou, had taken his grandson to go get ready, while Sayuri flittered around, trying to help Nana prepare. 

Nana thinks it’s kind of funny. Before Inko and Nana had split ways to prepare, Sayuri had met with Inko briefly. Whereas it had been instant hate the moment Sayuri met Iemitsu, Sayuri had nothing but nice things to say about Inko. If anything, it gives Nana hope for the future, but she’d already known Inko was a good person, with an extraordinarily kind heart. 

Watching how Sayuri and Kichirou were with Izuku, too, had been hilarious. Nana doesn’t think she’s ever seen Izuku’s cheeks so red (no doubt a combination of cheek pinching and compliments, courtesy of her mom and dad, respectively). Of course, then again, they’re probably just happy they have another grandson to dote over. 

There’d been promises of being more involved with the family, too. It’ll be nice seeing her parents more often, although she did have to insist that moving closer to them was not necessary. She doubts she was convincing enough to talk them out of it. 

Besides that, Nana was introduced to Inko’s own mother. Sadly, her father isn’t in the picture anymore, but at least Nana can see where Inko got her tears. Haruna is one of the sweetest women Nana’s ever had the pleasure of meeting and she is so glad she’s gotten her blessing. 

Family meetings aside, Nana is glad things are going as well as they are. In fact, she’s surprised something hasn’t gone terribly wrong. Maybe that’s just anxiety speaking, but she’d expected something to happen by now. 

Sayuri shakes Nana out of her thoughts by grabbing her hands, squeezing them gently. Her smile is soft, it not a little wobbly. 

“I’m glad you’re happy, dear. You deserve to have nice things,” Sayuri says, leading her to the main room. Sayuri stops before the doors and lets go of her hands, Kichirou taking her place. 

“Give me a minute to find my seat and then you can walk her up to the altar.” Sayuri gives her husband a stern glare, then rushes into the room, closing the door softly behind her. 

“I don’t always agree with your mother, but I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Kichirou murmurs, eyeing Nana from where he faces towards the door. “There was something off about that ex-husband of yours.”

He couldn’t be more right even if he started guessing what those secrets may be. Nana’s never told a soul about what he did for work and she doesn’t plan on it. It strikes her at this moment that maybe she should have told Inko by now, but… It totally slipped her mind, honestly. She’s not contacted Iemitsu since he promised to send her paperwork (that never made its way to her). She’ll have to remember that, but not today.

“Thanks, dad,” Nana replies, finding her words past the lump in her throat. A dangerous sign, she thinks. She doesn’t want to cry now; she’ll save that for when she sees Inko.

He doesn’t say anything else, instead choosing to start leading her into the room. The doors open in front of her and she’s struck by how real this is. Still, she squeezes her father’s arm and walks the aisle, eyes skimming across the small number of people sitting amongst the benches. They’d only really invited family and a few friends. She can see Enma sitting next to his parents, just behind the front row of seats, where her mother is primly perched. On the other side are a few of Inko’s relatives, some odd amount of uncles, aunts, and cousins.

Her father stops once they’re nearing the altar, where she gathers her skirt and walks herself the rest of the way. He takes a seat on the bench next to Sayuri and Nana turns, waiting patiently for Inko. There’s some chatter amongst the people in the room, but everything goes quiet when the music starts up and the door opens once more.

Izuku steps out in a little suit that makes Nana want to squeal. Someone’s tried wrangling his curls into a neater hairstyle and they miserably failed. She hopes no one even tried with Tsuna’s hair- it’s truly a lost cause. 

Izuku’s just so cute. In his hands is a little basket full of petals that he clumsily spreads across the floor, making way for his mother, who steps out behind him, being led by her mother, Haruna.

Nana is struck by Inko once more (and she suspects it’ll hardly be the last time she is). She’s wearing a white dress with elegant lace, the dress embracing every one of her curves. Aside from the thin lace straps over her shoulders and around the tops of her arms, the rest is bare. Her neckline dips low, but tastefully, and there’s a wide smile on her face, hair pinned up in a braid. 

Nana doesn’t notice she’s crying until a drop of warmth lands on the hands she’d instinctively used to cover her mouth. Oh no, Nana thinks. She’s so lucky to have this beautiful woman as her soon-to-be-wife! But she can tell she’s not the only one getting teary. Half the room is sniffling by the time Inko makes it up to the altar, standing in front of Nana.

More than once, she forgets to listen to the priest, too enraptured by the beautiful woman across from her. She’s not the only one, Inko’s eyes glazed over with emotion. They are briefly distracted when Tsuna comes up the aisle, holding a pillow with rings on them. She’s pleased to see that he’s adorable in his tiny suit.

They exchange rings, vows, and kisses. By the end of the wedding, they are exhausted and their eyes are red, but there is no denying just how happy they both are. The small party after the ceremony is kept brief; food, drinks, and a speech followed by a dance, and later, the cake.

It's a small thing to note, but Nana Sawada becomes Nana Midoriya and Tsuna becomes Tsunayoshi Midoriya. It's going to take some getting used to, but Nana likes the sound of it already.

Later, when the sky starts turning purple and pink, Nana walks Tsuna and Izuku over to the car. While it had been nice of Haruna to offer her babysitting services, both Nana and Inko had agreed that getting two rooms while on their honeymoon would suffice. Besides, she wants to see the boys’ reactions to being on a cruise ship. 

Waving to everyone as they make their leave, they slide into the car. Nana watches out the window, hand in Inko’s, and she marvels over how right this feels. They’re starting a new chapter to life and Nana feels only excitement, nerves cast away. No matter what comes next, none of them will have to face it alone.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter has arrived, but don’t despair, I’m working on a series that follows this one. 
> 
> Some of you gave me ideas for this chapter. In fact, those ideas inspired me so much, I wrote 2000+ words just for this chapter in a couple of hours. I never do that! Not sure how I feel about the ending itself, but hopefully you enjoy!
> 
> There may be some inaccuracies here and I won’t spoil it, but there is some implied/referenced child abuse in this chapter. Not Nana or Inko, I promise, but do be careful! Also, I’m not entirely positive how adoption works in Japan, but I’ve been doing lots of research and this seems about right? 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and leaving your support! Remember you can always contact me on my [tumblr](https://bonesetblues.tumblr.com/) @ bonesetblues if you have any questions.

Although being married to Inko does not change much of their life, it is nice being able to look at Inko and know that she’s her wife. Not only that, it warms her heart being able to call Izuku her other son. Still, there are tentative plans about adding to their small family. It had taken Nana a few months to gather enough courage to bring it up to Inko, but surprisingly she had been on board with the decision.

Now it’s a matter of figuring out when to start the process and how they want to go about this. If Nana’s being honest, she doubts she wants to go through pregnancy again. Inko agrees that she, too, doesn’t want to go through pregnancy herself. This leaves a couple of options; adoption and surrogacy. Surrogacy is out, Nana thinks. It’s not a hassle to pay someone, as she has more than enough money, but all she can think about are the possible complications that might spring up from that.

Try as she might, she can’t deny having a healthy amount of doubt when it comes to people and the things they’re capable of doing.

Adoption, however, had been on her mind since she brought up another child with Inko. Perhaps even a kid who is around ten years old, the same age as Tsuna and Izuku. It might make things easier for them all to get along. She knows that adoption isn’t easy, especially for older kids, but she can’t help think of all the kids who don’t have homes because they are babies or toddlers.

Inko offers nothing but support for her idea and holds her hand when they ask their boys about how they’d feel about adding another sibling to the household. Any worry she may have had dissipates at Izuku’s blinding smile and Tsuna’s bright eyes. 

They research an agency and go through getting approved for adopting. It doesn’t take too long, though it makes her wary about how fast they’re given the green light. Still, waving a little money around helps (and Nana is entirely shameless about this when it comes to family, though she knows when to exercise caution). 

Once approved, what’s left is paperwork and setting up a meeting with children they’re matched to. Paperwork is, and will forever be, a hassle. It’s slow and there’s much to read, but Inko’s at her side, signing wherein Nana is reading carefully. Having a lawyer for a dad had helped her in times like these.

The day they go about meeting the children, Izuku and Tsuna tag along. Inko’s getting used to letting Tsuna’s intuition help them make decisions, and it’ll only prove helpful now. They end up skipping over some kids that don’t fit (Nana hopes they can find a loving home in the future, as tempted as she is to start taking them all with her- thank Inko for being here to be logical about this). 

Nana isn’t quite sure how, but when the next boy comes in, something about him sticks out. Purple hair, bags under tired dark purple eyes. The way the agent barely touches his shoulder to lead him into the room, as though he’s got some sort of disease she doesn’t want to contract by being near him. Mistreating a child right in front of her is the fastest way to make Nana angry and she sits there with a seething smile as the boy tumbles into a chair across from them.

Inko’s hand squeezes her in thinly veiled fury as well. It reassures Nana, that she isn’t just reading into things.

“This is Shinsou Hitoshi,” the agent, Watanabe, says. “You said you wanted to see children around the same age as your boys, right? He’s ten, so he fits the criteria.” The words come as though being dragged out like it’s an obligation to show off this boy. She looks as though she’s expecting them to turn him away. Something tells Nana that it’s happened before.

“That’s perfect,” Nana says, tone sweet to hide her ire. She turns her warm smile to Hitoshi, who shies away from it. “It’s nice to meet you, Hitoshi-kun. I’m Nana and this is Inko.” She raises Inko’s hand, fingers intertwined with her own. 

“This is Tsunayoshi and Izuku.” Inko hovers her free hand over the heads of her sons, respectively. 

“Remember, no quirk usage within this room.” Though Watanabe is facing Inko and Nana as she says this, she doesn’t actually seem to be addressing them. Not directly speaking to Shinsou. It irks Nana, but she’s not quite sure why. 

“I know,” Hitoshi says, glaring at Watanabe. It makes Nana proud. 

“Here’s his file,” Watanabe continues, ignoring the boy. She holds out a file that Nana reaches out for. She’s surprised by the amount of information inside, the weight almost doubling that of the previous folders she’s handled today.

Inside, there are details about Shinsou’s medical information, from his height to his blood type. He’s up to date with vaccinations and his last checkup had been fairly recent; he’s healthy, something she’s glad to see, although it does state that he has insomnia. Nothing sticks out in that area, though she does briefly read about his quirk, which explains the agent’s actions. Doesn’t make it right though.

As she continues flipping through the papers, she’s aware of how tensely Hitoshi is holding himself. Inko hovers over her shoulder, skimming the same way she is. She thinks they may be on the same wavelength though. She doesn’t want to leave this place without confirming that they’ve found the one they want. Hitoshi’s been from house to house, always returned with the same complaint that the parents were scared of his quirk. Well! Nana thinks those parents were weak and not equipped to care for children. No one can help the quirk they end up with- it’s about how they use it and from what she’s seeing? Hitoshi’s never used it against anyone.

Nana closes the folder and sets it down on the table, quiet as she processes the information. She feels bad for the way it makes it seem as though she’s finding a way to let him down gently, which isn’t the case at all. She turns to Inko and raises an eyebrow, tilting her head towards Hitoshi. Inko glances between Nana and the boy. She then turns to Tsuna, tapping his shoulder.

Tsuna jolts, as though he’d been focusing intently on the shy kid across from them. He turns to Inko, examining her face, seemingly understanding what’s being asked. He grasps Izuku’s hoodie, tugging at his sleeve. Izuku’s already nodding, which is good enough for Tsuna. He turns back to Inko and nods once, firmly. 

“Well, that’s that,” Nana says, addressing Hitoshi. “How would you feel about coming home with us?” 

By the sharp intake of air, she can tell she’s surprised both of them. Watanabe asks if she’s sure, but all Nana says is;

“Of course.”

Hitoshi’s more reluctant to agree, no doubt thinking of all the families he’s stayed with over the years. Nana’s not about to let this boy come back here, though. It doesn’t matter if he causes any trouble. With time, love, and nourishment, she knows he will blossom. She can’t wait to see it.

While Inko and Nana work with finalizing the paperwork required for this decision, Hitoshi’s allowed to join Tsuna and Izuku in coloring, their quiet chatter something Nana will have to get used to. She’s looking forward to that.

It still takes time; weeks pass by until they’re able to pick up Hitoshi, to take him home. They have a temporary room set up for him so that he can pick another one he’d like more. Plus, she wants him to decorate it the way he wants. Upon walking him home, she’s saddened by the fact that he only has a bag of clothes, but that’s going to change, Nana thinks.

X

The adjustment period is a struggle. Nana’s been working hard on trying to make their home comfortable for Hitoshi. He walks around the house like he’s constantly seeing ghosts, as though if he blinks, it’ll all be taken away. However, Nana’s easy affection has made him less tense, and he tends to cling to her or Inko’s skirt, especially at night. Though he doesn’t sleep, she still tucks him in and reads or sings to him, despite his age (personally, Nana thinks you can never be too old for a bedtime story or a lullaby).

Shopping for new toys and painting his walls purple has helped, too. His room has become one of his favorite places to be, but he does hang out with Tsuna and Izuku. He’s seemingly opened up to them, especially with Izuku’s genuine curiosity with Hitoshi’s quirk and his insistence on how useful it’d be for heroics. Tsuna’s intuition has gently guided him around any bumps and his kindness has been welcoming; Hitoshi’s starting to feel like he truly fits in.

Still, he thinks it’s too good to be true and he’s waiting for the moment they drop him off at the agency. It’s never going to happen, but for now, Nana thinks they just have to keep reassuring him that they love him already.

Unfortunately, the peace doesn’t always last. 

On one of her shopping trips, Nana walks by an alley. She would have passed it by, except that she sees something from the corner of her eye, all bundled up against a wall near a dumpster. Knowing that curiosity would eat at her if she left, she stops and decides instead to cautiously approach the small hooded figure. She’s never liked going down allies when she doesn’t have any way to defend herself, but this feels urgent.

She sees the way the figure tenses when she crouches in front of him, but he can’t possibly be older than thirteen when she gets a good look at his face. The fact that it’s a kid, shivering and scared in this alley, assures Nana that she’s made the right choice. Her heart clenches when she sees burns all over his chin, dipping far beneath his coat for her to make out how far they extend.

“Are you okay?” She asks. 

“Go away,” he replies, eyes glaring daggers at her. She thinks if looks could kill, she’d be six feet under right now. The blue of his eyes is striking, though. Familiar- the same that resemble a certain flame hero, second only to All Might. It makes her… nervous. Flames, burns, a runaway child? It adds up and she doesn’t like the implications.

“What kind of person would I be if I ignored someone in need?” She asks, digging through the plastic bag in her hand. Though she’d been planning on taking these snacks home, a hungry child probably needs this more right now. She pulls out a bag of chips, handing them over.

He seems inclined to ignore it, but his stomach grumbles loudly enough that she can hear it from where she’s at. He reaches out, slowly. When she doesn’t pull the bag away, he takes it and begins opening it, shoving handfuls of chips into his mouth.

“I know it’s not my business, but do you have a place to stay? At least for tonight?” She looks up at the sky with a frown. “It’s going to rain soon.”

In his silence, she gets her answer. 

“I have an idea,” Nana says, turning her soft gaze back to his. “Come with me.” 

Though he looks as though he’d rather run, he follows her home and lets her towel his wet hair when the rain catches them halfway. 

Turns out, Inko’s bleeding heart aches for him the way Nana’s does. They have a brief, whispered conversation about picking up strays in the kitchen, but Inko prepares a warm soup and covers the boy (Touya, as they dragged him from) in a blanket when he falls asleep on their couch.

“That’s… Endeavor’s boy, isn’t he?” Inko whispers, arms crossed over her chest in an attempt at comfort.

“Who would have been reported missing by now, considering how malnourished he is. There’s nothing on the news about him. I looked,” Nana says, frowning. “It wouldn’t feel right if I made him go back.”

“We can’t keep him,” Inko argues, eyebrows furrowed. “That’s- It’s not… legal.”

“Whoever said we had to be legal?” Nana jokes but shakes her head. “My dad’s a lawyer. Maybe I can pull some strings?” 

X

Pull some strings she does. A formal investigation goes through Endeavor’s legal team. It’s a long and expensive process. In the end, it takes a personal meeting with Endeavor to wind up with custody of Touya and it’s sad that it hadn’t taken much convincing. It’s a bittersweet, but one must take their wins and losses as they come. Nana hates how there’s not a single ounce of compassion in Endeavor’s hateful eyes as he talks about “what a failure” Touya was.

Blah, blah, quirk marriages. It makes Nana sick. Still, it’s not the end. There’s a chance that, in the future, Endeavor’s future children will be removed from his custody as well. Though the case had been kept private, leaks still happen, and she can practically see the journalists circling the number two hero like sharks in the water, scenting blood. It makes Nana vindictively happy. 

She leaves the building with Touya’s mother’s number in her pocket and the knowledge that Touya will remain in their home, safe with them. 

Somehow, Nana knows that Hitoshi and Touya are not going to be the only additions to her family in the future. She looks forward to seeing what the future holds next.


End file.
